Gaius Publius writing at Americablog<\/a> comments on a recent New York Times<\/em> article on this election cycle\u2019s monstrous cost.<\/a>\u00a0I suggest reading the NYT<\/em> article<\/a>\u00a0then read Gaius\u2019 commentary here<\/a>\u2014one of two posts he is writing on money in this past election. The second post will deal with foreign contributions, which, he notes, appear to be \u201cbanned from public discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first post on 2012 election spending, Gaius covers the main players: Sheldon Adelson, the Koch Brothers, wrestling executive Linda McMahon, and other oligarchs and what they gave. He also mentions Joe Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs who spent almost $13 million to attack President Obama on federal spending. Gaius\u2019 comment:<\/p>\n

See what happens when sports owners are made invisible to the fans<\/a>? Fans give them their money to spend against them. Dumb; really dumb. Take that, Cubs fans. And don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s plenty more waiting. You give him the wherewithal, every losing season.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So will a more politicized and politically enlightened electorate put heat on elusive arch-conservative sports owners? Will fans begin to boycott games over an owner’s massive right wing political spending aimed squarely against their interests? Interesting thought as we move on from a startling election that resembled the awakening of a sleeping giant\u2014a brown-faced electorate that will no longer tolerate Republican attempts to suppress their voices and votes.<\/p>\n

In one of his most interesting insights, Gaius fingers corporate owned networks and TV stations as deeply invested in perpetuating our massively expensive elections. He asks:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where did all this money go? Most of it went to the media<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Remember how I said above that the media \u2014 the networks and TV stations \u2014 were a huge part of the [election reform] problem? Most people only look at the front end of the election system. They see how Big Money buys candidates who pay them back with favorable laws,\u00a0low taxes<\/a>, and\u00a0lack of prosecutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But think of the candidate as just a pass-through for the cash. The money starts somewhere (Our Betters); they give it to campaigns and campaign surrogates; tons of people take a very generous cut; and it ends up somewhere. The candidate isn\u2019t bought with the money; the candidate is bought with electoral office.<\/p>\n

What does most of that money actually buy?\u00a0TV time. Very expensive TV time. Think for a minute from the standpoint of the network or TV station owner:<\/p>\n

\u25a0 I the media owner have a broadcast license that, in practice,\u00a0I can never lose<\/a>. (I pray daily to the\u00a0Great God Clinton<\/a>, blessings on his name, for that one.)<\/p>\n

\u25a0 I have a political system that allows me to charge big bucks for what used to be free \u2014 access to TV for candidates.<\/p>\n

\u25a0 I have a campaign financing system that dumps unlimited money into the pockets of politicians and their supporters \u2014 and\u00a0that money needs to be spent.<\/p>\n

\u25a0 Who do they spend it on? Me.<\/p>\n

As a general rule,\u00a075% of campaign money<\/a>\u00a0goes to media and communications, and while I don\u2019t have the TV numbers (national and local), I\u2019d bet that TV accounts for the bulk of it.<\/p>\n

And this is why we may never get low-cost uncorrupted elections. It\u2019s not just the candidates who are corrupted. Everyone who touches that money is corrupted \u2014 especially the end-user, our national and local media. They will kill to keep things just like this. Wouldn\u2019t you, if you were a monomaniac money-seeker<\/a> (sorry, corporate-profit-responsible CEO)?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ll link to part 2 of Gaius’ comments on money in the 2012 election when he posts it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaius Publius writing at Americablog comments on a recent New York Times article on this election cycle\u2019s monstrous cost.\u00a0I suggest reading the NYT article\u00a0then<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1176,162,77,573],"tags":[2514,398,153],"yoast_head":"\n