Thursday, April 18, 2013

My thoughts on election finances (circa 2005)


I wrote this when I was still in high school and forgot about it until Eric Garland's wonderful Twitter rant yesterday (reproduced in blog form in his website). 

In America politicians create laws.  Although our officials are democratically elected, they do not necessarily represent the average American.  Political campaigns run on dollars.  It is effectively impossible to win any significant election in this country without access to a personal fortune, or friends with great wealth.

In our society, money is often valued more than “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.  People make political contributions only to causes that they believe in strongly, or feel will help better their own lives, often monetarily.  Big business and high rollers will not provide money to candidates who might hurt their interests.  A prospective candidate can garner political donations by making promises to these special interests, guaranteeing advocacy of legislation that promotes their business and thirst for money. American politics and democracy are not about applying the will of the people, they are about advancing the agenda of the wealthy elite who run our society, often into the ground.

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