Donating to political candidates

2014

So now while there are still limits on the amount a person can contribute to a single candidate, there is no limit on the total a person can contribute. If I am a billionaire (or simply stupid) I can give up to $5,600 to every candidate running for the House and Senate and I can give $1.2 million to a political party.

Then we have all the money going to Super PACS spewing at times inflammatory, inaccurate and misleading information to voters. All this happening on both sides mind you although I must admit the most egregious nonsense coming from the right at the moment, but wait until the party in power shifts.

A WSJ quote:

Democrats said the ruling would open the floodgates to more corrosive money in politics. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) said striking down the aggregate limits would empower billionaires to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.

Drown out the voices of everyday Americans? Doesn’t each American have one vote whether billionaire or pauper? If I give $2,600 to a candidate for her primary election and $2,600 for her general election, do I have a greater ability with my vote to get her elected than you do with your vote?

The problem is not the money, although I never have and never will donate to politics, even through a PAC, the problem is low information, disengaged, uniformed voters who devote no time or effort to understanding who or what they are voting for. The problem is re-electing the same sometimes corrupt career politicians year after year, decade after decade whose future depends on being influenced. The problem is the people who don’t vote at all. The problem is the people who freely pass around lies and misinformation that other uninformed people also pass around, mostly via the internet.

If our democracy is in danger, it is not because of the likes of the Koch brothers, Bloomberg or Soros. It is because of the apathy of the American voter.

Check out Open Secrets for more of the following.