SIRENED: Dirty Politics,Cleaned

What is The Best Politician Money Can Buy?

by Alex on July 18th, 2007

Go on any of the presidential candidate’s websites and the first thing addressed is money. They need your money to support their campaign because the more money they have, the louder their voice becomes and the more likely they are to be elected. This is what “democracy” in the United States has evolved into.

According to this chart on Opensecrets.org Hillary Clinton has raised the most money at $63 million and Barack Obama has raised the 2nd most at $59 million. It really is mind boggling, we are still 6 months from the Democratic primaries (and 16 months before the general election) and just these two candidates have raised over $120 million!

Typically it’s the Republican candidates who edge the Dems in fundraising but not this time. Mitt Romney leads the Republicans with over $44 million raised and Rudy Giuliani is 2nd with over $35 million.

So the top 2 Democrats have raised more than $40 million more than the top 2 Republicans! And thus far, if you combine what all the candidates have spent it amounts to more than $130 million!

It would be one thing if politicians had zero access to having their face shown and voices heard on TV but that is far from the case. Watch any of the major news networks and your bound to see a few presidential candidates putting their 2 cents in about some pressing matter. And debates…both sides of the aisle have already had 3 of them. The debates are a free opportunity for candidates to get their message across to those that are watching.

So where does all the money go? It pays their expenses to show their faces in as many key states as possible and creating big hoopla wherever they go. Banners and posters for all, yay candidates! It pays for TV ads, I remember seeing some Mitt Romney ads here in Florida a few months back, so no surprise that he has spent the most of the candidates so far, $32 million! And it pays the salaries of key advisors who gather information on what people want to hear and thus shapes the respective political candidate’s voice.

All the money raised according to the books is from individual donations and there is a cap on the amount people are allowed to donate. The maximum an individual can donate is $2,300 for the primary elections and another $2,300 for the general elections. So when we donate, we are looking to buy our candidate, the person we feel best represents our vision and values for the direction of our nation.

So what is the best politician money can buy? Is it the candidate who most closely thinks like we do and will do their best to represent our best interests? Or is it the candidate whom we feel is the most honest and represents the best interests of the greatest number of Americans, thus having a more egalitarian vision?

This country is a republic, not a democracy. That is why we don’t have an equal voice in political matters; we elect individuals who are supposed to be more knowledgeable to make tough decisions on our behalf.

When we went to war in Iraq, the majority of Americans believed the war was just. Now the majority of Americans believe we should leave Iraq. If this was a true democracy we would already be out of Iraq, but as a republic, our elected officials have kept us there because they still believe it is in our best interests to be there.

So as an American it is very important that we purchase the best candidate for the future of our country. The stakes are high, the price tag is high and the candidate with the most money will most likely win.

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POSTED IN: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, Corporate, Criminals, Florida, George Bush, Global Warming, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, Politics, Presidential Race, Terrorism, Voting, War on Terror