Why BIG Money Controls All Politics

…unless you are Bernie Sanders, which makes him even more amazing than he already was… Out-raising Clinton?  Impressive. Not to mention blowing the doors off all feeble Republican efforts.

But I’m riffing on this topic today, so here it goes.

The reason is because a lot of progressive type people as well as far righters rail at their politicians for being what has often been titled “corporate whores”…

Doing whatever corporate donors ask and then getting a few bucks for it…

What most of you don’t realize, is that elected officials really don’t have a choice.  Citizens United changed the playing field so that ignoring BIG money kills you off early.

(Which is why we elect progressive type people and become dismayed to find they too gyrate to corporate philosophies faster than we can find their replacements..)

For new comers to this process, we should say, it was not always this way… There was a time when BIG MONEY was just a player like everyone else.  If they had good ideas, you listened.  If they were a crock, you ignored their pleas…

Citizen’s United changed that playing field by allowing dark money to invade any contest. Prior, one had limits on contributions each which alone would not sway an entire election, plus it had to be publicly disclosed…

Now if someone doesn’t like the “size of your nose”, they can secretly donate unlimited amounts to unseat you…  In local races it may not be effective.  Bryan Townsend (2012) trounced “Big Bucks” Tony Deluca who had paid a lot for slick pieces to land in every district mailbox every day a month before the election… It  sorta pissed people off.

But the threat of big money arising against you, makes you seriously weigh what normally would have been good sense legislation against that potential threat…

For example: do I dare stop this cancer causing power plant in the heart of Newark which will prematurely kill of 15,000 of our citizens over the next 50 years,…. or risk losing the next election due to dark money behind a dark opponent?

That would be a no-brainer right?  Those dead could be your children, right?  But no, it is not a no-brainer because you won’t be around in 50 years.  And if you vote against it, you definitely will have an all out fight to still be employed beginning the next election cycle..

So more than donated money itself, it is the threat of  potential money that has killed off all “pro-people” legislation.

Just like: the threat of getting stopped at a sobriety checkpoint….  chance of a 100 per million… makes you not drink too much before driving. Or getting a ticket from the camera pole, makes you not run a red light and instead sit at the corner for 3 minutes with no cars in sight; or eventually losing your license, makes you choose to pay at tolls instead of sneaking through the EZ Pass lane.

All those ridiculous things we do that defy common sense, we do because of existential threats. With Citizen’s United, the threat is real that if we do not side with corporate against WE, THE PEOPLE, we will lose everything we’ve worked for our entire professional lives….

This is why calling anyone, including Hillary, a corporate whore, is pretty lame… They have no choice really… Sadly it is like name calling a 13 year old who was forced to prostitute.. They could be a concert pianist had events gone differently for them… But we, have forced them into this situation… and as would any 13 year old rapidly figure out, you get killed if you don’t play the game, so you had better play it well because no one is coming to save you….

Unless it is YOU… Are YOU going to vote to end Citizen’s United?….. If not, shut your mouth… You are polluting the air with your breath…

Yes! The Law Was Broken!!!!

Again…

By Delaware’s Department of Education….

Pursuing a narrow agenda not sanctioned by 90% of Delaware’s citizens…….

To benefit friends, cronies, and investors in Markell’s New Vision for Delaware’s Corporate Future……..

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Administrative Code: Title 14: 100: 103 which is titled: Accountability for Schools, Districts, and State, 10.0: Process states under 10.1: The Department shall provide districts and schools with preliminary notification of a school’s identification pursuant to 7.0 no later than the end of July following the school year on which the identification is based, and final notice shall be given no later than August 1st.

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Though submitted to the US DOE in a letter dated July 21st, districts were not notified until September 4th. forcing them in 26 days to decide upon a frivolous course of action…

As with any contract dispute, a violation of any tacit of the contract, causes the whole contract to become null and void. That this violation occurred, can only mean that under a non-corrupt decision, that this as would any other contract dispute, be thrown out for a year, until proper deadlines could be met…..

To be decided otherwise goes backwards on all history of contract law, and means corruption, not correctness, took over the court’s proceedings…