Billionaire backers and POTUS candidates (money in politics)

[Seattle Husker]

Has anyone else noticed a narrative forming that each of the POTUS players seems to have a single billionaire backer? I've now seen this in a few different mediums. Is this true that each politician has closely aligned themselves to primarily a single well healed backer?

Below is the Daily Show's admittedly liberal take on this.

http://on.cc.com/1Im6XiG

 

[nashhorn]

Just saw that 30% of all donations comes from just 60 donors. Scary. And with each donor there are one or two individuals dominating dramatically the contributors. The best money can buy!!!

 

[Seattle Husker]

My bias is that we are either moving towards or have already arrived at the point where the bourgeoisie literally writes the laws, decides the leaders and ultimately determines the tax code. I say this as someone whose household income is in the top 2.5% yet is a country mile away from the wealth being thrown around in elections.

Here are some interesting reads:

From the Brookings Institution - The Billionaire Political Power Index: http://www.brookings.edu/research/i...onaires-us-political-power-index-november2014

From Marketplace.org: The 'bring your own billionaire" election: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/elections/bring-your-own-billionaire-election

For example, Ricketts and his wife, Marlene, gave $5 million to Republican Scott Walker’s super PAC.

“This is a BYOB election – bring your own billionaire," says Chris Gates, president of the Sunlight Foundation, another campaign watchdog. "And if you don’t have at least a few of them in your pocket you’re probably not going to be taken very seriously as a political candidate.”

This is scary stuff. Citizen's United may have been deemed "legal" but might ultimately be one of the worst decisions the Supreme Court has ever made.

 

[Seattle Husker]

The Koch brothers have a stated intention of spending $889M this election cycle. http://www.marketplace.org/topics/elections/koch-brothers-2016-war-chest-889-million

Of course that will be spread across many candidates and issues but that number is obscene. In a POTUS election where each party nominee is expected to spend $1B that money isn't as effective. But a $10k donation to a State Supreme Court Justice could easily be the difference in winning/losing. Make that same donation to hundreds and you can easily see how money shapes our judicial system.

 

[nashhorn]

Without doubt, we get the best politician(s) money can buy. Been on this soap box for awhile and think we are past any perverbial tipping point. No one that wins now is going to be in any position to stop it - if they win they are not going to want to, and if they lose they're powerless ... period. Nothing short of a populist uprising can rectify our predicament. And the age group in the populist with the required energy level to carry out a successful uprising are too busy 'making' money to live on to make expend such an effort.

 

[Musburger1]

This is scary stuff. Citizen's United may have been deemed "legal" but might ultimately be one of the worst decisions the Supreme Court has ever made.

Agree with you 100%.

Recently Jimmy Carter stated the United States has become an oligarchy. While I disagree with many opinions held by the former President, I think his analysis here is accurate.

It's the billionaires that work behind the scenes, unmonitored by the public and even Congress, that orchestrate policy such as the trade deals now being rammed through, and Obamacare (we need to pass it to see what's in it). America is no longer a government of the people, by the people, or whatever the line was.