[Peace-discuss] An inversion on money in politics ?

[Mildred O'brien]

The Establishment (duly represented by and in the NYT) misses the "money in politics" problem.  First off, campaign contributions ARE the problem, whether private, political party or PAC (corporate).  Public funding needs to replace special interest revenue sources of informed campaign communication. The big winners of campaign big money are media advertising (and of course ultimately the corporations/donors whose investments in their chosen elected candidates eventually pay big dividends).  The enormous media profits peak especially during presidential election years (which lately seem like every other year), that's why the "airwaves" that (supposedly) belong to the people must be returned to the people in the interest of informing the public of candidate positions with well regulated free time provided by communication corporations, and not just a repeat of the so-called "Debate" circus played out by select-biased media representatives.  Of course this would require a detailed and no doubt hotly discussed Congressional topic, finally to be submitted as a referendum for approval.  This could take years to negotiate and would be possibly not achievable in such a capitalist economy that dominates almost all aspects of life in the U.S.A., but like the urgency of wise climate decisions, it should at least be publicly considered and discussed NOW, not "changing patterns of finding new campaign funding."  Midge -----Original Message-----
From: Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Cc: peace-discuss <peace-discusss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Wed, Sep 18, 2019 2:04 pm
Subject: [Peace-discuss] An inversion on money in politics ?

[ To me, it's a relief to read an account of actual real-world empirical data rather than just another blast of sloganeering  & ideological opinion.  ~ RSz. ] 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/opinion/trump-fundraising-donors.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

The Changing Shape of the Parties Is Changing Where They Get Their Money

By Thomas B. Edsall  NYT  Sept. 18, 2019

Money is the mother’s milk of politics, as the old saying goes, and the slow motion realignment of our two major political parties has changed who raises more money from the rich and who raises more from small donors.

A pair of major developments give us a hint about how future trends will develop on the partisan battleground.

First: Heading into the 2020 election, President Trump is on track to far surpass President Barack Obama’s record in collecting small donor contributions — those under $200 — lending weight to his claim of populist legitimacy.

Second: Democratic candidates and their party committees are making inroads in gathering contributions from the wealthiest of the wealthy, the Forbes 400, a once solid Republican constituency. Democrats are also pulling ahead in contributions from highly educated professionals — doctors, lawyers, tech executives, software engineers, architects, scientists, teachers and so on.
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