Money in politics is the root of all evil. Part 2
It is sickening that in a country that claims to be the leader of the free world, the chances of winning an election are directly tied to the amount of money raised. It would be ok if fundraising success was just an indication of popularity, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
Money flows into politics for 2 reasons:
1) Politicians need money to campaign (i.e. twist the truth to convince those undecided that they are the best choice). Since each side is paying the same amount of money per ad, it’s akin to the old joke where 2 friends take turns giving each other $10 bucks to eat a piece of shit. In the end they each just ate shit for free. Except in this case, it’s the public that’s eating shit.
The prudent solution would have been to just “cancel out” the lowest common denominator. Let’s say Democrats raised $500 and Republicans $600. Then each side should give $500 back, and let Republicans spend $100 on campaigning.
2) “Interested parties” need to buy politicians’ loyalty (i.e. corruption). While political contributions are legal, they will remain the rational thing to do for any smart person/company. It’s just like tax loopholes - it’s dumb not to use them.
The only solution that would solve this is to make money in politics illegal. Not sure if this will ever happen, but until then I don’t see how the situation will fix itself naturally.
