The madness of political money
In her letter to the editor, Jennie Maroney complains mightily about George Soros. In response, some reported facts from the Nation magazine -"The Koch brothers have already funneled more than $30 million into congressional races. As of February AFP (Americans for Prosperity; the political action committee backed by Charles and David Koch), had already spent more on ads attacking North Carolina Democrat Senator Kay Hagan, than Democratic groups had spent on all Senate races in the country combined."
The NewsHour reported more money has already been spent on this election thus far, than was spent in total on the last presidential election. Between Republicans and Democrats, more than $38.6 million has been spent and it's only April. How much has George Soros spent on elections? That information isn't provided in Jennie's letter. Which is not to exonerate Soros for his spending, but remember; information is power and as James Madison said, "a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." Where's the information we could use?
Taken from an article in the Nation magazine about the "Shadow Lobbying Complex", Senator Hugo Black who later became a Supreme Court justice said-"There is no constitutional right on the part of any sordid and powerful group to present its views behind a mask concealing the identity of the group". The article continues, "He was particularly concerned about the use of front groups and deceptive tactics to conceal the identity of the true paymasters, whom he referred to as the "money-maddened men behind the mask."
Thanks to the current day Supreme Court, the actual paymasters behind the whirl-wind of money currently being spent on elections is concealed from us. As Senator during the New Deal era, Hugo Black drafted some of the first lobbying registration laws. Almost a century later not only are the laws to curb money in politics all but eliminated, while almost one quarter of the country's children are going hungry, just as so many children went hungry during the Depression, in the era when these laws concerning elections were passed.
Kevin Spacey for his role in the Netflix show "House of Cards" followed Kevin McCarthy a Republican, and Steny Hoyer a Democrat. When asked what he thought after following them Kevin Spacey said, it was all "performance". Exactly what I've been saying for some time, politics is all theatre. As a World War Two veteran explained, politics is the lifeblood of a democracy. The life blood of our democracy has been sickened by "money maddened men." This is what we need to wake up and realize, and soon, as the point of no return is at hand.