Dylan Ratigan was relieved of duty for rants like this. At MSNBC, you are supposed to pro-Obama all the time. And its too bad. He was on to something. However, after realizing the problem, he arrived at the wrong solution. You cant have a pie, as large as the federal and state budgets are, and not expect people to show up wanting their slice. Further, the people who complain about money in politics dont understand marginal dollars. That is, the more you have, the less each future dollar is worth. The current campaign finance laws restrict CHALLENGERS, who need the money the most. Heres a secret almost no one understands. The more money you force an incumbent to spend, the more likely he is to LOSE. And the only way to do that is with your own war chest. Eugene McCarthy caused Lyndon Johnson to drop out of his re-election race, because he had a small cadre, especially one donor, who gave him a very large contribution. When the new limits were imposed in the early 70s, he challenged them in the courts, saying that if those laws were in place in 1968, Lyndon Johnson wouldve been the Democratic Party nominee. To sum up... 1) The ONLY way you reduce the amount of money in politics is by reducing the amount of money that goes to the capitol. And, 2) the only way you reduce the corrupting influence of the money that does go there is by vibrant political competition, which comes when challengers can legally accept VERY large individual contributions.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:43:40 +0000