The big local political stories bandied by the New Mexico media recently really point out what is wrong in our system today. The articles about upcoming races aren't about ideas. They are about how much money the candidates have raised. The governor has out raised Attorney General Gary King by huge amounts. Other candidates are sending out email missives about how much money they have raised for their races in the other constitutional offices. And this is the way it will go because in reality that is what counts. The amount of money that is thrown into special committees and candidates treasuries by corporate America is now the main indicator of a candidates viability. Not vision, ideas, programs, policies or the like. Just money from special interest groups.
It really is worse than when I got involved in politics back in the mid 70's. Sure, money to run campaigns mattered back then, but it wasn't the sole indicator of someones chance of winning. Hard footwork, meetings, and a platform that involved policy positions mattered. But since the Roberts Supreme Court decided that corporations are people and effectively took of the limits on contributions by CEOs and Boards it has been the rule that it is hard to win without being owned by them.
It really is worse than when I got involved in politics back in the mid 70's. Sure, money to run campaigns mattered back then, but it wasn't the sole indicator of someones chance of winning. Hard footwork, meetings, and a platform that involved policy positions mattered. But since the Roberts Supreme Court decided that corporations are people and effectively took of the limits on contributions by CEOs and Boards it has been the rule that it is hard to win without being owned by them.
1 comment:
So poor children now make up the majority of public school students.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/education/study-poor-children-are-now-the-majority-in-american-public-schools-in-south-west/2013/10/16/34eb4984-35bb-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html?hpid=z5
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