The Problem of Money in Politics
When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, the three major candidates for the Presidency spent between them about $90 million -- adjusted for inflation that comes to about $260 million.
In 2012, the total was about $2 billion -- an increase of about seven and half times the rate of inflation. With Citizens United, some are suggesting it may come to $5 billion this cycle.
The cost of getting elected makes fundraising the first priority for virtually all candidates. Going back to President Clinton and his wife trying to enact a national health care plan in 1993, the ability of corporations to deploy hundreds of millions of dollars of cash has obstructed every push for the traditional goals of the Democratic Party. So it is plain to see that Big Money is the problem for anybody who wants to see any deviation from corporate control of everything.
The two leading Democratic candidates offer two ways of addressing the problem of money.
The Clintons learned first hand that money cannot be beaten, and they have mastered the art of raising money from the interests that block our traditional goals. Their solution is to change the goals of our party to coincide with the goals of Big Money. In 2016, the Hillary campaign has dropped all pretense and now campaigns on the "reality" that you can't beat money, and it ridicules any other thought.
In short, they contend that Money Rules, Get Over It.
Bernie Sanders starts from the premise that Money Ruling is the problem itself. He resorts to the quaint idea that we are a democracy and that people do not need a billion dollars spent by somebody else to petition the government for redress of our grievances. That First Amendment remedy has not been tried by our party in a very long time and the smug "realists" who support Mrs. Clinton have nothing but contempt for the idea.
In short, Bernie contends that Money Rules, Let's Do Something About It.
Hillary asks people to vote for her and she will keep things from getting much worse.
Sanders asks people to get off their asses and join in the process of Democracy -- to organize.
The choice could not be any clearer. In fact I do not recall any primary election where how our "democracy" functions was the main question for the voters to decide. This gives a Hillary an advantage in that she asks for almost nothing, while Sanders says that his supporters have to do the real work.
We have a great heritage of reform in our country -- Abolition, Suffrage, Unionism, Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Gay Rights, Clean Air and Water -- some others. The one common denominator is organizing, petitioning the government for a redress of our grievances as guaranteed in the Constitution.
It is really strange to hear a candidate run for office on the idea of Don't Bother, We Can't Win.
