Why is election spending by outside groups up 1,600% this year in the GOP primary?
By louisehartmann
Today the Republican primary race for the White House hits Florida. Polls indicate that Mitt Romney is headed for a victory in the sunshine state – but are voters this year really choosing candidates – or special interest groups? Research shows that election spending by outside groups is up 1,600% this year in the Republican primary compared to 2008 – and about half of all the political ads on the air are paid for by Super PACs – those corporate front groups that came into existence thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
Most of the 13,000 television ads running in Florida on behalf of Mitt Romney are not paid for by the Romney campaign at all – but instead by pro-Romney Super PACs. Because of Citizens United - we no longer have candidates running for office, we have INTEREST GROUPS promoting the candidates they like running for office. Interest groups like Wall Street – big oil – and the for-profit health insurance industry that now have free reign to buy our elections this way.
So even though Mitt Romney will likely win Florida tonight by double-digits – the real winner will be Wall Street, which has already handed $3.6 million to the Romney camp.
Comments
#2
So the majority of people, the 99.9%, are being led through the nose by the .1% by advertizing. The .1%, and extending downwards a bit to those wannabe top .1 percenters, can afford it because they have all the money. Are there really that many dummies in America that believe all of that political advertizing hype? Well I guess if so many people are easy to beguile with other non-sense and superstition they are easy prey for advertizing. Maybe they all deserve what they get for being so gullible. Maybe we should all go back to hacking each other with swords in the Emperor's army.
But, of course, the real deception is that it's all theater to get us to believe we have some say in our government. If you vote for a Republican, then you get OVERT actions against you...unless you are wealthy then it is in your favor (until the citizens sharpen their guillotines). If you vote Democrat, then you get COVERT actions against you (unless you are wealthy, then you already know that you are using a corrupt political system that you created to fool the people into a false hope that buys them time to ratchet those snake teeth once again..and we are eaten up by the ravenous serpents).
The wealthy know that the best and most effective way to make the people your slaves is to imprison their minds with psychological dogma and propaganda. Get them to focus away from the root causes.
Voting for the same old fool that we did the first time will not help us at all. Obama is either too incompetent to stand up to the wealthy class...or he is their useful idiot and he has been part of the game of deception all along. We need a change...a real change this time....neither Republican nor Democrat...we need to shake up the system or we will be forever playing this silly game where the people (the 99%) continue to lose.
#3
DR: Excellent article! And great video. Article has quotes from Elizabeth Warren, Simon Johnson, Bill Moyers, Chris Hedges, Joseph Stiglitz and others....
'Nobel Prize-winning economist, former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and Columbia economics professor, Joseph Stiglitz, agrees the US economy continues under oligarchic domination:
“What the Obama administration is doing is…ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a “partnership” in which one partner robs the other. And such partnerships — with the private sector in control — have perverse incentives, worse even than the ones that got us into the mess.” '
Here's another video that you might be interested in....I got this link from the article you posted.
http://vimeo.com/5439962
This video has various politicians making statements that just explodes with their hypocrisy, double-speak, and criminality.
Obama is a war criminal that should not be re-elected. Don't vote for a war criminal!!!
What if Hitler had not committed suicide and said "War crimes? Torture? Prosecute the guilty? Let's just put that all behind us and just move along...concentrate on our future!" This is basically what happened with many war criminals both from Nazi Germany and Japan. The US took them in and helped them because they were able to help us in our goals of becoming the strongest and most aggressive power in the world. And, this is basically what Obama, and his administration, has said....let's just move along and concentrate on the future. Instead of going after the criminal deeds of those that preceded him he actually appointed some of THEM and meekly backed down from the bravado talk he gave in his campaign speeches.
Obama, after winning the first election, changed his tune and became the very corrupt war criminal that Bush had been. Obama is only just now trying to make us believe that he wants to change the system and reign in the excesses of the wealthy....but he's lying to you. He has no such intention. He is one of THEM.
#4
I heard Thom talk about the California Single Payer Health bill SB810 last night and he named names of the four Democrats that voted "no" on the bill. I hope these 4 Democrats get tarred and feathered by their constituents and run out of town on a rail (figuratively speaking, of course...I don't advocate real violence..although that doesn't seem to be a problem for our government when they do it to others..even torture..even to it's own citizens).
These 4 scum bags don't seem to care that hundreds or thousands of Californians may lose their lives because of their stupid votes.
I have done a few quick searches on the internet...and have found that although there are many articles about the bill not passing....none of them mention the 4 Democrats by name....hmmm...I wonder why that is?
#5
Thom, on your show you complained about the Banksters using the taxpayer funded bail-out money to pay for the Republican primaries. Don't you understand that this is just the Republican's method for publicly funded elections? lol
#6
I went and saw Ron Paul speak this morning in Ft. Collins Co. There were some campaign adds screened right before he came on . These adds were all about taxes,spending,and the debt. I was all set to walk out during his speech when he went in this direction.....but he didn't. It was very good and very populist. He spoke mostly of cutting "military spending" (not defense) and how we shouldn't be policing the entire world. (this got a big,loud,standing ovation). He spoke of personal liberties and how bad the patriot act is but, only hinted at lowering taxes.
I really noticed the difference between his speech and the campaign adds
#7
I hope my comment above is on topic. I do not know who pays for Ron Pauls adds but they are very different from his speech.
#8
I have felt for many years now that this country was headed for a full revolution. I pray that will not be necessary, but the oligarchs are pushing very hard these days and are not even subtle about it like they once were. I find it very sad indeed that people on this planet are forced time and time again to fight for basic human rights.
#9
Wonderful college town, Ft. Collins! I wonder if they are still pickin' and pluckin' at that bar on the corner. I have forgotten the name of the bar but it was very pleasurable to hear so many gifted musicians that just showed up and joined in. That local brew was very memorable as well. And believe it or not I was just thinking about Ft. Collins even before I read your piece. Must be psychic! I went from thinking about the Arabic lady I assisted in a laundromat in Grenoble to the banjos and fiddles I heard in Ft Collins. Now...that's "off topic"! The other thoughts in my head have been encrypted...sorry!
#10
Actually it's silly (and this goes for me too) if we focus on president Obama so much. As we all know, any Democracy is based on a parliament -- this country on Congress, which actually is a parliament as well. And if people utter, they hate Congress, they literally hate their own guts. So if I started amateur-campaigning for the Democratic Party team, I tended to focus on Obama, for you can hardly sell any Congress team to common people.
Referring to Obama, a few psychological human attitudes are to consider. Disappointed friends, lovers, or fans often develop unjustified hate. People are able to hate an ex-lover or ex-friend more than their worst enemy. Especially if people feel betrayed -- justified or not -- they can act senselessly destructive, even self-destructive.
People are often talking as if Barack Obama was an absolute ruler, like the sunking, and that's crazy. Even average kings hadn't that much power in the past; they were pretty much depending on a parliament and above all jealously watched by their 'state rulers'. Obama just signs, he can veto, he has some options to start something against Congress, but after all Congress can refuse the money he depends on to dare something like that.
But of course the president represents as popular face, communicating to the people. Countless times Obama asked the American people to help him. I heard this as call to revolt against Congress and renew democracy. But democracy is not absolute -- there isn't any absolute Democracy in the world. We call this system Democracy, but it's not working. Because the majority is not informed and not even interested enough in politics.
Working in this system is checks & balances -- division and separation of power(s). This actually is the most important thing in this system, called "democracy". Why? Because any human is not to trust. We know that, the Bible says it and is right in this point. You can call it sinful, or just selfish. Mitt Romney calls it: "Greed is good!" That's why checks & balances is the most important aspect in our system.
This checks & balances system, called democracy, is threatened by corporate greed. And that is the threat. In Europe they watch, prevent and fight monopolies much more effectively. Because monopolies are very dangerous.
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How an economics teacher presents Occupy’s economic argument, victory
(adapted from Open proposal for US Revolution: end unlawful wars, parasitic/criminal economics; a call for Americans to lawfully, non-violently, and literally turn around/revolve from the 1% crimes that kill millions, harm billions, and loot trillions of the 99%’s dollars)
I’m going to discuss trillions of dollars in a moment. As an economics teacher, I understand numbers this large are extremely difficult to imagine. If you are among the majority with this difficulty, I recommend that you follow the expert testimony that paints the picture, and know that success in this area of public education transformation that unleashes trillions of our dollars for human creative capacity in unimaginable power is sufficient to end the current economic crisis.
This is the longest section of my call for Revolution. If you tire in reading, please consider that at trillions of dollars of annual public benefits, you literally have nothing more valuable to do than understand the following facts that document the theft of our money.
Please take your time with this. You can read it in sections. This minor investment of your reading to understand trillions to empower 100% of humanity includes contributions to Occupy’s success from many of our brightest economic minds...
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/