April 23, 2015

Dependence On Koch Money Is Damaging Our Democracy

http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/04/20/dependence-on-koch-money-is-damaging-our-democracy/
"This dependence, or addiction if you prefer, is detrimental to our political system. When most people think of an addiction, they equate it to inanimate things like drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. In America, we have a more serious problem and that is the dependence of our politicians on the money supplied by the Koch brothers and other right wing extremists that is being used to buy our government.
When the Supreme Court ruled on FEC v. Citizens United in January 2010, they opened a Pandora’s Box that has allowed the total corruption of our political system through the use of ‘dark money’ support from unnamed sources. Declaring that money equals speech and that donors to political organizations, many posing as non-profit organizations, do not need to declare who their benefactors are has allowed unscrupulous people like the Koch brothers to flood our political landscape with candidates that are no more than puppets, paid to do whatever is demanded of them.
Here is how it works. They find a buffoon that is pliable, ignorant, and willing to be bought. Ideally, the selected ‘candidate’ will have some degree of personal charisma, but not too much ability for independent thought. They then convince this person that they are a perfect ‘candidate’ and give them a false sense of superiority that makes them think that they have what it takes to succeed in the political forum.
They flood their ‘candidate’ with dark money contributions from unnamed sources and make the entire campaign dependent on that money. All the chosen ‘candidate’ has to do is follow the directions of his or her handlers to be elevated high into the American political system, possibly even as high as the White House."