Super PACs and super egos
Photo: 401kcalculator.org
Money talks in politics.
David Moe
Sun City, Calif.
The good thing about our every-four-year presidential election cycle is that the wealthy have an opportunity to spend their money. As Dolly said in the musical Hello Dolly, “money is like manure, it isn’t any good unless you spread it around.”
In this election cycle, one PAC was created where 80% of the money came from just three donors for a total of $15.3 million. The largest sum, $6.3 million, came from an oil and gas pipeline billionaire from Dallas, $5 million came from another Dallas billionaire, and $4 million came from another wealthy donor. Is it possible to buy an election? Some people seem to think so. The Koch brothers plan to spend one billion dollars themselves for the Republican nominee.
Meanwhile, they raise the rents on all the property they own, pushing more people into the streets. In Orange County alone, the homeless population has grown by 5% in the past two years. When will it end? The rich get richer, and those living on the margin end up on the street.
2016 will be an interesting election year, when the wealthy spend billions of dollars to maintain the status quo, but unless computers are programmed in advance the people will decide the result. The wealthy know they can’t control the result, unless they can control voter registration and/or pre-program the computers to get the result they desire. Both of these have been tried in the past and will be tried in the future.
In the meantime, sit back, enjoy your popcorn, and watch the show. It will be a display of super egos with super PACs having a super time spending super amounts of money. Now that’s entertainment!
David Moe was born in Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris in 1964 and received his M.A. degree from San Francisco State University in 1975. He spent four years in the Navy and 32 years in the insurance business. He and his wife, Thordis, have two daughters and four grandchildren. They now live in Sun City, California.
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 11, 2015, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
