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Very fascinating article by the NY times about who is trying to buy the White House.
They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.
Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.
Very fascinating article by the NY times about who is trying to buy the White House.
They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.
Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.
Yep, our bought and paid for oligarchy. This is exactly why Citizen's United has to go. But who will champion that cause in a government that is bought and paid for by the plutocrats?
I wish every American eligible to vote could see this, including the map of family clusters that shows our political choices are basically underwritten by billionaires mostly from NYC, LA, Palm Beach, and San Francisco. And the media marvels at the popularity of Trump and Sanders.
Bernie Sanders will talk about it during the debate. I wonder if Hillary will address it also ...
Every American who cares about this country should seriously think about the issue of money in politics. I don't think it is a Democratic or Republican issue. It is simply an issue of whether we are living in a country where we want: One Person One vote or One Dollar One Vote.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaphawoman
I wish every American eligible to vote could see this, including the map of family clusters that shows our political choices are basically underwritten by billionaires mostly from NYC, LA, Palm Beach, and San Francisco. And the media marvels at the popularity of Trump and Sanders.
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