We read that the Koch Brothers and other billionnaires have dumped million$ into the coffers of those (e.g., Karl Rove) promoting "conservative" candidates for state and local elections. As a result of all this red money, in states where progressive candidates had been until recently leading the conservative candidates (like N. Carolina, Colorado, Minnesota), the "fund-raising" letters and emails all start out much the same: "Please chip/pitch in $XX before midnight tonight/tomorrow...or the Senate will go Republican."
Sign a petition in support of a progressive cause (helpfully sent out by FLOTUS, POTUS, Nancy Pelosi, Al Franken, Alan Grayson) and you get an instant thank-you, at the bottom which are small icons for Visa, MasterCard, PayPal so you can segue right into making a contribution ("every dollar matched," etc.).
Well, somebody's getting rich off this. Who is raking in all of these many dollars, not just from the gazillionaires but also from old grannies on SS like me, who are sending their $3 every month/week/(day? nah, we don't have that kind of money to send it every day--though they ask us daily-- especially not right after Christmas.)
Unless I miss my guess, the people on the receiving end of this flood are the media moguls: FOX, CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NYT, WSJ, WashPost. Aren't these the same people who benefit from running the "corporations=people" outfits? Shouldn't this be illegal?? I thought buying an election WAS illegal. If it happens anywhere else in the world, it is.
Nothing new there.
ReplyDeleteLate 16th century scottish poet Alexander Montgomerie wrote bitterly :-
My Lords, late lads, now leiders v our lauis,
Except your gouns, some hes not worth a grote,
Your colblak consciense all the country knawis;
How can ye live, except ye sell yr vote?
ME--Don't look at me - I didn't get the money. The Koch engineering campus is a 25-minute drive from here, but neither of the Misters Koch has sent me so much as a plugged nickel! I must admit, however, that one or the other of the Brothers Koch contributes to many of the civic projects in the Wichita area including the Wichita Music Theatre of which Hunky Husband, our family, and I are attendees.
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I'm just surprised that Ohio isn't on the list! And oh yeah, I am now at: http://kaydennisonskelly.com/ (not by choice) Today I'm rebuilding my blogroll. This is a job for batman!!!! Kay
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