Sunday, November 16, 2014

The Elephant in the Room

In the various analyses of why the Republicans won the Senate and the House, I have read that the Democrats didn’t inspire the voters.  They weren’t able to turn out their supporters.  Obama acted as a drag on the Democratic candidates.  

While all of those things might be true, isn’t it time we also recognized that Democrats were outspent, especially in the last month before the election, especially by energy companies and the Koch Brothers, especially by secret contributions now made legal by the Republican Supreme Court?

If you want to bet on a political race and you can know only one thing about the race, ask who spends the most money and bet on the candidate who has the most money to spend.  You’ll do well.

I’m not sure the Democrats will ever win again.  The system of campaign finance is now completely stacked against them.  The gerrymanders are also stacked against them, and the U.S. Senate over-represents states like Kansas and Arkansas, and under-represents the liberal states like California and New York.  


The U.S. is no longer a democracy.  It is an oligarchy, and a few very rich people are pulling the strings.  Let’s recognize reality.

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