Your Pol Has Been Bribed--And It's Worse Than You Think

The previous post discussed the role of what is called, in polite society, "campaign financing", in buying the votes of politicians. Your politician has been bought, and you have not voted for a candidate; you have voted for the lobbyists and special interests who have purchased that candidate.

But those are the big boys. The medium-sized boys have their roles to play, too, and thanks to OpenSecrets.org, we can see exactly how our politicians have been bribed to sponsor earmarks. That's right, there is a direct link between organizations' bribes of politicians and their reception of pork. It's very simple: an organization bribes a candidate via "campaign contributions", and in return, the politician sponsors some porky bill that funnels money right back to the bribing organization.

As an example, let's look at one of the worst offenders, Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA-8). You can see here, in Jim Moran's Bribes, how, for instance, Hampton University gave Moran $2,000 and in return Moran sheparded $4,000,000 of pork to 'ol Hampton U. Or, how a company called Dynamic Animation Systems stuffed $6,800 in Moran's back pocket in return for Moran to somehow find it in his heart to shovel $2,000,000 of pork to that company.

Here's Congressman C. W. Bill Young Republican of Florida. Raytheon gave him $10,500 in the dead of night in return for Young stuffing pork into a bill to the tune of $4,000,000, while National Interest Security Co (no irony there...) only had to pay Young  $4,800 for their $1.6 million.

OpenSecrets.org has created a searchable database but few are paying attention. But these smaller bribes are just as pernicious as the big ones. They create immeasurable needless wasteful spending and divert your politicians from funding worthwhile projects.

So remember: When you vote for a candidate, you're voting for their wasteful spending. Worse yet, your pol has no interest in you, the voter; they're too busy paying off bribes.

Your Politician Has Been Bribed

I hate to break it to ya, Mr and Mrs Voter, but you don't vote for a politician. You vote for the special interests who own that politician.

Since McCain/Feingold the barriers to nearly unlimited "campaign donations" have gradually broken down. The courts have consistently ruled that the First Amendment guarantees the right for people to use money for advertising on behalf of (or against) a candidate. And the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court extended that right to companies and unions -- in effect, saying that companies and unions have the First Amendment rights of individuals.

That opened the floodgates. The amount of money that can be spent on behalf of a candidate is now essentially is unlimited. And it cements the ability of special interests to buy access and influence.

Let's look at a couple of examples, courtesy of OpenSecrets.org. Here are the top donors to John McCain's 2010 Senate campaign; here are the top donors to Charles Schumer's. What you see is an assortment of various banking, lawyer, media and industrial interests. Here's what you don't see: individuals.

The politicians spend much of their time soliciting these bribes while the special interests spend much of their time trying to bribe politicians. With such a happy conflation of interests, it's a simple matter for monied interests and politicians to erect relationships both symbiotic and parasitic. The politician is now elected, with the use of the bribes to pay campaign costs; in return, he or she is now owned and told how to vote by organizations that could care less about you.

In the next post: It's Even Worse Than You Think.