Moroun buys a politician

[Willi]

Money and Politics - Leverage, Extortion, Corruption -
Surely numerous "players" exist this election season

http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/po...nt?oid=2263345

[downtownguy]

Love the first sentence in this paragraph from the article:

First, a little background: Moroun, an 87-year-old bag of fertilizer waiting to be planted, has one goal in life. Not to help mankind, find a cure for cancer, not even to enjoy himself. He wants to prevent a new bridge across the river.

[Willi]

The great thing about MetroTimes is the fact it isn't the other 2 Detroit newspapers.

[BankruptcyGuy]

Money and Politics - Leverage, Extortion, Corruption -
Surely numerous "players" exist this election season

http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/po...nt?oid=2263345

"A" politician?

[Jimaz]

Vend-O-Vote

[Willi]

Campaign reform anyone - take the money out of the equation

[Wesley Mouch]

Campaign reform anyone - take the money out of the equation

You can't take the money out. And even if you could, it would be an even worse world where the incumbents and 'special interests' would have greater control.

Please, no, the cure would be worse than the disease.

Did I say that you really can't take the money out. Nobody can buy ads? Or would ads be reviewed by a government bureaucrat? Give money to candidates that get on the ballot? What about write-ins, like Duggan. No money?

Nice idea. But would never, ever work. Would only be a deeper trip into the hole of darkness.

Oh, and did I mention that its unconstitutional? The founding father's had this silly idea that people should be able to speak freely.

[Honky Tonk]

You can't take the money out. And even if you could, it would be an even worse world where the incumbents and 'special interests' would have greater control.

Please, no, the cure would be worse than the disease.

Did I say that you really can't take the money out. Nobody can buy ads? Or would ads be reviewed by a government bureaucrat? Give money to candidates that get on the ballot? What about write-ins, like Duggan. No money?

Nice idea. But would never, ever work. Would only be a deeper trip into the hole of darkness.

Oh, and did I mention that its unconstitutional? The founding father's had this silly idea that people should be able to speak freely.

Seriously? "incumbents and special interests would have greater control"? You mean the secretive super-pacs, handing out bags of cash under the darkness of night, have no self-serving interests? I find that a little hard to swallow.

[Wesley Mouch]

Seriously? "incumbents and special interests would have greater control"? You mean the secretive super-pacs, handing out bags of cash under the darkness of night, have no self-serving interests? I find that a little hard to swallow.

Seriously. Yes, seriously.

We know the SuperPACs have self-serving interests. Shouldn't they? That's their purpose. So if you're in favor of drilling for oil, or limiting Right-to-Work, or expanding Charters -- you get to buy your ad. And you get heard.

Exactly how does controlling how much money can be spent gets those voices heard? Who gets to decide who has a legitimate interest and who can be heard? Oh, that'll be the legislators. And you think they'll give campaign money to a fringe candidate who might challenge the system?

Yeah, try that and see just how special interests will control elections.

Our free-for-all campaign finance world is terrible and the worst system -- except for all the others.

[Honky Tonk]

Seriously. Yes, seriously.

We know the SuperPACs have self-serving interests. Shouldn't they? That's their purpose. So if you're in favor of drilling for oil, or limiting Right-to-Work, or expanding Charters -- you get to buy your ad. And you get heard.

Exactly how does controlling how much money can be spent gets those voices heard? Who gets to decide who has a legitimate interest and who can be heard? Oh, that'll be the legislators. And you think they'll give campaign money to a fringe candidate who might challenge the system?

Yeah, try that and see just how special interests will control elections.

Our free-for-all campaign finance world is terrible and the worst system -- except for all the others.

Let me ask you this then. Given my station in life, how do I get my voice heard? Or am I unworthy of having a voice? He with the most toys wins? The special interest pacs already ARE controlling the elections. Those ads aren't cheap.

[Vic01]

...The founding father's had this silly idea that people should be able to speak freely.

I have doubts the they intended for $$$$$$$$ to equal a voice where a handful of million/billionaires can out "speak" the values, and good of, the rest of the citizens

[loveDetroit]

I have doubts the they intended for $$$$$$$$ to equal a voice where a handful of million/billionaires can out "speak" the values, and good of, the rest of the citizens

Amen. The whole process has become disgusting. And are the same littering bastards that planted all those signs along the roadway going to come back and remove them?

[Jimaz]

The phrase "the best democracy money can buy" is meant to be facetious.

Apparently some folks need to have that explained explicitly.

[Scottathew]

Money and Politics - Leverage, Extortion, Corruption -
Surely numerous "players" exist this election season

http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/po...nt?oid=2263345

Thanks Willi! I usually lean right, but I'm staying clear of Matty on this one. This is on my ballot too!

[Honky Tonk]

It has now gotten so that the typical contributor is drowned out.

If one thousand contributors make contributions totally 10M [[ave. 1K), it just takes one with big bucks to match it through the super packs.

What's the purpose of the average Joe contributing say 250 bucks to his favorite party?

The ONLY saving grace is much of these tons of money is wasted. Seeing a dozen commercials a day for a month is like eating pizza twice a day for a month.

Exactly my point. Most of the organizations WM cited, are the special interest groups. Without full disclosure, you have no idea who these pacs are or what their agenda is. It's bad enough they're allowed to buy the office, but you have no idea what's going to happen to it after they do. The "elections" keep getting worse evertime. I have yet to hear a "man on the street" interview where someone says "you know, I look forward to being bombarded with low intelligence, mud slinging campaign ads every election". Yet, like Hedge Funds, they continue to go on, cloaked in secrecy. Don't forget Detroit's local unions backed Benny "let me borrow your car" Napoleon in the last election.

[Jimaz]

In short, the "best democracy money can buy" is the worst possible democracy in terms of corruption. It's an embarrassingly simple concept. It's also quite revealing that this kind of bribery is being promoted so heavily and openly in this corrupt age.