First it was the Supreme Court's decision in Citizins United that treated corporations as people and allowed them unliminted amounts to spend on campaigns out side political parties. The ads you see in Louisiana by the Koch brothers(who are outsiders) against Senator Mary Landrieu is a good example.
Now we have last weeks decision concerning McCuteheon which also releases a flood of money into political campaigns. Columnist David Brooks said it is a win for political parties. Newt Gingrich said it will allow the middle class to compete with wealthy PAC's. Gingrich, a perennial candidate loves it because politicians go after the money. Brooks, a news media person loves it because the news media sell ads to all the wealthy who spend millions so politicians can be beholden to them. Make no mistake these two decisions will continue to destroy our democratic form of government.
There is only one thing left to do in order to stop the buying of elected officials by the wealthy and to put the special interest people out of business. The answer is what I have written about in several commentaries here in PolitiDose. Politicians have to stand up and refuse to take any money from anyone and be innovative in changing how campaigns are financed and run. All it takes is character, courage and balls. David Brooks said you can't take money out of politics, a neat way of saying he supports the status quo. Campaigns should be shorter. The news media is already promoting the 2016 Presidential race and leading the charge is the Fox News Network, the network of lies and misinformation.
The same greedy people who are spending all the money are the same ones who demand the tax breaks, loop holes and special treatment so they can add to their wealth and greed. They are the sames ones who oppose raising the minimum wage and want to operate outside of regulations. A wise Louisiana Assessor once said, Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Abslolutely. That is just what is happening in our political system today between the special interest and our elected officials.
By the way, there is another way to eliminate money in campaigns and the Supreme Court would have no say in the matter just as they do not have any say if a politician rejects campaign contributions. If enough people are interested I will write a commentary on the subject matter in the future.
This commentary written by John Lucia.
