Big Money Politics Is David Versus Goliath With David On The Take

2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a
Pimp- on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich HijackingAmerican Politics
- By Kenneth P. Vogel

I rarely take on the topic of election finance laws and term limitations because I am rather torn on the matter.  In concept it makes sense to set reasonable limits on both, but I would not like to rid ourselves of, or financially hamper good people who are good for politics just to place a limit on the bad ones. When good and bad start to look alike, even this argument falls flat.  As for term limits, especially the presidency, it is impossible to master any elected office in one term and impossible to be effective in a lame duck second term. Thanks to big money, what was once two uniquely individual matters of political concern (term limits and finance reform) have conspired to become different sides of the same coin.


Big money has now 
taken over both matters for all of us by dictating who runs for office, how long they get to stay there if they win and what they say while in office.

Big money has redefined the terms of our political monster and is blurring the dividing line between free speech and freedom for sale.  In a new Book "Big Money", Ken Vogel takes on the subject, but not in a way that partisan groups might expect. 

June 6, 2014 5:22pm ET, Barton Swaim of the Wall Street Journal wrote:

With "Big Money"—which takes up the Kochs and other rich political contributors, including Sheldon Adelson, Rob McKay and liberal Texas lawyers Steve and Amber Mostyn—Mr. Vogel has succeeded in doing what I, for one, didn't think possible. He has made the subject of money in politics entertaining—indeed, gripping. He does this by a combination of factual analysis, eyebrow-raising scoops and zany stories. One minute he is sorting out a bewildering assortment of Koch-linked nonprofit advocacy groups; the next he is being escorted out of yet another gathering of high-dollar donors by an earpiece-wearing security guard. The author avoids the earnest hand-wringing to which writers on this subject are prone, but he worries that American politics, as the book's subtitle has it, has been "hijacked" by the superrich. President Obama himself put it nicely (a year or so before officially blessing his own Super PAC in time for the 2012 re-election campaign): "You now have the potential of 200 people deciding who ends up being elected president every single time."

The fact that the Koch Brothers have become the poster children for this problem is only a little unfair, because they certainly have taken this problem to a new dimension.  In the Koch brothers, we have mega-rich who are Libertarian in ideology.  As a rule, Libertarian's oppose big...anything, but the Koch brothers represent an opportunity for mean and lean Libertarians to establish a permanent seat at the table.  The Koch machine has proven that we have ALL decided to join them and not beat them when it comes to the using wealth to push an agenda. Grassroots (aka, low-budget) political efforts must continue to register victories in order to maintain the integrity and passion of grassroots activism.

In my research of excerpts from this book, Vogel shares this revealing tale from an Obama campaign fundraising event:

"In their private question and answer session, Obama let his guard down and eventually shared some thoughts that revealed more about his view of American politics than perhaps anything he said publicly during the entire campaign. Election day was still  more than 8 months away.  But Obama, in a previously unreported riff, signaled surrender on one of the fights that had drawn him to politics in the first place; the effort to limit the flow of big money.  It was a remarkable concession, one that would have stunned the campaign volunteers who believed so deeply in his promise to change the way politics works.  It wasn't that he was admitting that his own election prospects would be disproportionately influenced by super-rich donors. He had already done that  eleven days earlier when he blessed a so-called super PAC collecting million dollar checks to boost his re-election.  What really distinguished his remarks to (Bill) Gates and company from his carefully calibrated official position was the admission that the grassroots, people powered politics, he had long glorified, might never again trump the swelling political buying power of the very richest donors in presidential campaigns in 2016 and beyond." 

Whats becoming apparent is that big money dictates more than any of us, including the candidates, wishes to admit.  From the outside in, big money in politics seems like an issue worth fighting against.  From the inside out, this is David versus a new  and improved Goliath and David doesn't have bigger rocks for this bigger foe.  On occasion, David might even be on the take.