American Presidential Politics--Let the Games Begin
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Political Money Links
- Opensecrets.org--Money in politics data
check out campaign spending here--regular updates on national and local levels - The Campaign Finance Institute
the role of volunteers and small donors in this year's campaign plus much more - The White House for Sale,2008
explains the ins and outs of public campaign financing, lobbyists and more. Here's where you can find out where all the bodies are buried and then some!
The Multi-Million Dollar Campaign
A couple of weeks ago Hillary Clinton’s campaign ran out of money and Hillary had to write herself a check from her personal pile of cookies for something like five million dollars. The following week-end, through an internet appeal, she raised 11million for her campaign and was able to pay herself back. Somewhere I read that over the same week-end Barrack Obama raised even more money than Hillary. It is estimated that by the time the Democratic party selects its candidate this summer, these two contenders alone will have spent close to $500,000,000:.that’s half a billion, just for the nomination. If we include expenditures by all the candidates from both parties, including those who have dropped out, the figure gets closer to a billion. And once both parties have held conventions and selected their candidates, the cost of the general election will be even more mind- boggling. Meanwhile, down in New Orleans, people are still living under bridges or in FEMA trailers. In Minnesota bridges are falling down. And all over the country people are dying because they can’t afford decent medical care.
Bread and Circuses
Am I the only one that finds this kind of financial excess disgusting? What kind of people are we anyway, to mount and participate in political extravaganzas that are the modern day equivalent of ancient Rome’s gladiatorial games? This is not an election, it is a spectacle for the people—bread and circuses for the masses who will cast their ballots this November, not on the basis of reason, but purely for emotional reasons, manipulated by the media and charmed by their own simplistic view of the world.
There is an adolescent quality about the American psyche. We believe what we want to believe with an unshakable optimism that makes us easy to fool and our actions sometimes incomprehensible to foreigners. Why, for example, would the people of a country that spends more per capita on health care than any other nation in the world, and ranks number 22 in terms of its excellence (right next to Slovenia and well below all of Western Europe) reject the “ socialized medicine” that bestows healthcare as a human right in the rest of the developed world? We do it because we are told, and we believe, that ours is the best healthcare system in the world, in spite of the fact that our longevity and infant mortality statistics are among the lowest among developed nations. We do it because we think that government control will curtail our “freedom” to choose, and limit competition in the free market that we hold sacred. We do it because we are ignorant and mired in our own national myths.
Meanwhile, the campaign rolls on like a great national game. Rallies, placards, buses planes and primaries. The candidates are hoarse from shouting. The fans are frantic from cheering them . The talking TV heads spin their every action. Journalists parse their every word. Who is honest, who is moral, who has the best health-care plan? Who can clean up the corruption in Washington? Who had an extra-marital affair? Who cares? The ads roll in, the newspapers get sold, the fans cheer and hope theirs will be the winning team. Millions of dollars pour into political coffers. Favors are exchanged. Unkeepable promises are made and people will still be going to bed hungry and sleeping under bridges when it is all over. God Bless America. Moratori Salutamus!
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Comments
Wow-- thanks for that long, meaty comment. I dunno-- I am just shocked at the huge amounts of money that are being spent-- it seems like a very inefficient way to run a country:-)
Amen! I hope we are not going to get this spectacle every single presidential election year. Spending should be capped. "Buying" the presidency is an obscene idea, and this whole campaign has already gone on too long, and it hasn't even started.
Plus, health care---oh my god. I was going to say, don't get me started, but now that I think of it, thanks! I feel a rant of my own coming on...
Well, as I've ever watched fictious films and documentaries about presidential campaigns I think money politics has been something that is normal (in the eye of these people) even though the amount is huge and we never exactly know where it might come from. So...
Hi Dinamars, thanks for reading. I think it just pains me to see so much money spent on spectacle that has nothing to do with who the best president would be. Especially when there are people going to bed hungry at night--doesn't seemright. I suppose it happens everywhere--not just America. The struggle for power is the same all over the world whatever form of government :-)
Its asounding - what they spend, and what they end up having to spend in these elections! I loved this Hub! Great work. Steph
Hi Steph--glad you stopped by and I love your taste in hubs :-)
You are right. Why spend billions for a campaign that resembles a media circus? A fortune lost for what appears to be a popularity contest?
Great hub Robie2!
Right on Raven! Thanks for reading
I would love for a level playing field to be set out, no ads, no flyers, just a ton of debates on tv where the candidates ask each other questions, no softballs.
As this will probably never happen I do think Obama and Edwards have set some nice examplesof how to start making this system more for the people and less for the corporations. We have a long way to go but its a start.
Hi Jormins, and thanks for commenting. Well and now Ralph Nadar is muddying up the water again:-) more$$$$$ There must be a more efficient way to do this. For myself, I just want to see a democrat in the White House. Both Hillary and Obama are excellent candidates--so lets get it over with, pick one, stop fighting and get rid of George Bush
Oh My, My God!! You write so well, and it feels like coming straight from the heart. You have to feel the issues and the people close at heart to be able to write like this. Even the politicians, if they have true commitment for whatever cause, don't need to turn to money power to buy their credibility. They only try to bury their lack of honesty beneath piles of green stuff
Uma Shankari
Thanks for your comment, Uma and your kind words. You too write from your heart, and I enjoy your hubs so much. You give me a wonderful personal view of the concerns of people half a world away.
Thanks, Robie, for your nice words regarding my "Market Observations". Appreciate hearing from you.
Regarding your "rant" about (presidential) politics, I somewhat don't agree with you that it comes across as (totally) disgusting. As is said, "if you can't depend upon politicians for amusement, for what can you depend upon them"?
Incidentally, I never figured that I'd be the father of men in their fifties, but here I am - and still telling them what to do (buy silver).
Hi Budwood--well let's hope your sons listen to your investment advice--I think you know what you are talking about :-) As for campaign spending--I just think what a waste when there is so much that could be done with that money--the system is out of whack, but I must admit has its amusing momentsL-)
Thanks for reading and commenting.
"You give me a wonderful personal view of the concerns of people half a world away."
So do you Robie.
I have always been slightly wary of the US - the TV, film industry, the politics, the things we hear about, viewed from here (UK) can seem very packaged, very shiny, and sometimes surprisingly, retrograde. It's good to have access to other sides of the American psyche. Thank you.
Thank you, SW--saddens me a bit that we seem to export the very worst of ourselves to the rest of the world--our films, fast food, and lately, our President LOL. Your comment is making me want to write more about this ahhhhh I feel a hub coming on:-) Thanks for reading and commenting. BTW I really enjoy your hubs--so well written and filled with excellent information for a techno-klutz like me:-)
robiez,
Too bad I missed this hub when it was happening real time.
Only been around for 4 weeks.
good one
Well I'm glad you found it now and gave it a little "hublove" veritas--thanks for the visit and the nice comment and Welcome to Hubpages:-)
No doubt political extravaganzas are nothing but wastage of money instead of doing something for the needy and for the health care. But how does to minimize the election expense? This is increasing in electing every alternate President. It is the people who can alter the system in a democracy. It is a good hub for public awareness.
Iðunn says:
2 years ago
great rant. I loved especially this line:
"There is an adolescent quality about the American psyche. We believe what we want to believe with an unshakable optimism that makes us easy to fool and our actions sometimes incomprehensible to foreigners."
lol, how true - and of course the health care rant.
best I can figure is that it's like the Iks from Colin Turnbull's "Mountain People". The more they endured sociological loss, the more self-centered and individualistic they became until they destroyed themselves as a tribe.
Americans seem to tend toward greedy and stupid, perhaps there is a correlation and unmitigated greed retards or blocks intelligence and common sense somehow. Or perhaps this country is becoming morally bankrupt. Tough call.
You are talking about people who vote their jobs away to make $100 a year in dividends. It's hard to get much more inanely self-destructive than that. They vote out their own benefits, their jobs, their health care, use the market to jam their own home costs past their capacity to pay the mortgage, and they are still pleased with themselves...
...except maybe those folks moving out of Lindale :O
By the time they figure out what they've done and that they've done it to themselves, it will be too late to fix. I think it might already be.