David Frum says rich people are never weirdos (and earns a hearty heh-indeed from you know who):
If we had a system whereby a wealthy person could give $1 million to the RNC or DNC, which then distributed the money among the most electable candidates, we’d accomplish two things: we’d liberate candidates from spending so much of their time fundraising, and we’d also allow parties to impose some discipline on their weirdos and outliers.
Sometimes I wonder…how much longer do we have to pretend we’re not living in a plutocracy?
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
So the Republicans won’t sign on to the START treaty. How serious a security issue is this (I haven’t been following it)?
kdaug
@Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people): Reducing nuclear stockpiles from everyone dead x50 to everyone dead x20? No biggie, except we can save some money for tax cuts.
And shut up DougJ – Prince Somebody’s getting married next year! Don’t harsh our buzz!
freelancer
@Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people):
2010 GOP sez “MOAR Matchez!”, because why the fuck not?!
Hunter Gathers
@Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people): Very serious. It’s going to piss off the Russians, and the rest of Europe is going to look at us like a group of fools (like they don’t already). All in the name of Whitey’s Quest To Destroy Obama.
BGinCHI
Speaking of rich assholes:
“Everything you need to know about Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) judgment: “Scott has announced that his team of economic advisers will include former Reagan advisor Art Laffer.””
(via Benen)
General Stuck
At least until the wingnuts win back the White House and update the permanent ground war in Central Asia.
Martin
Um, CA just had a candidate spend $140M of her own money to run for Governor, against a candidate who spent $30M, and she lost by double digits. If the RNC had given her another $140M, I guarantee it would have been spent with the same result.
There is no ceiling to how much a candidate feels they need to spend.
kdaug
@General Stuck: You know, ha ha, I read that as “permanent ground war in Central America” at first.
Silly me.
Zifnab
If? What’s this “If” you speak of?
The Koch Brothers shit million dollar handouts to their corporate shills every day of the week. FOX News got caught red handed cutting million dollar checks to the Chamber of Commerce (currently functioning as the business wing of the GOP) and the Republican Governor’s Association.
If, nothing. You don’t have to pretend you’re living in this magical fantasy land of “If”. We’re already here, baby.
Anne Laurie
Shorter Frum: Life was so much simpler when only white males with certified fortunes were allowed to vote!
As long as one was a white male property-owner, of course. Frum falls into that happy band, so why are the rest of us loozers still whinging?
Zifnab
@kdaug: Don’t be silly. This isn’t the 80s.
Rommie
@kdaug: Me too kdaug, but I’m sure our betters will get around to that when they want to build the canal in Nicaragua or something. Could be South America too, if they want to give the pimp hand of justice to Chavez and liberate his oil reserves.
MikeJ
Rich people can *already* give a million bucks to the RNC or DNC, and they can go run ads on behalf of their candidates. The only thing the party can’t do is hand over that million bucks directly.
Karen
@DougJ
Sometimes I wonder how much longer we have to go through the song and dance of lobbyists or fundraising and just say that Wall Street and/or Big Oil, etc. runs the country.
Or dare I say, pretending we’re not becoming a theocracy?
Chyron HR
Surely you meant, “There’s Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes.”
freelancer
People die awful, gruesome deaths every day, why can’t one of those people be James Fucking O’Keefe?!
BGinCHI
I’m sure the host on NPR’s Marketplace will correct him when he says this.
slag
I’ve always thought that the biggest problem with American politics was that there wasn’t enough money in it.
Also, too, not enough Hollywood.
kdaug
@Rommie: Oh, well, I guess we’ll just have to use the War On Drugs to tide us over until then.
General Stuck
@kdaug:
Updating all wars will be on the table for Sarah and her Jesus Nukes. And maybe some brand spanky new ones as well.
Mnemosyne
@freelancer:
This morning, I heard about a guy who was ripped apart by five lions and eaten while he was on safari.
That sounds like a good one to me.
Bnut
I still say the best idea is to limit donations to specific candidates or parties to a 1-2K limit per person, no PACs or company donations, all donations must be disclosed. But I’m a 26 year old DFH, so what do I know.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Zifnab:
Well except for the part where plenty of rich people are lined up around the block waiting for the chance to give $1 million (protip: you have to say it in your best Austin Powers voice: One Milllllyun Dollarrrrsss) to the DNC
I’m pretty sure that is a fantasy.
Or perhaps Anatole France was wrong and the law once properly amended, in its majestic equality will permit the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, steal bread, and give One Milllllyun Dollarrrrsss to the political party of their choice.
joe from Lowell
This argument is bullshit.
Exhibit A: the Koch brothers.
Exhibit B: George McGovern’s 1972 campaign, which was made possible precisely because a small number of very rich people made very large donations and McGovern instantly gained the capacity to compete with the party’s heavyweight candidates.
Regardless of how you feel about McGovern, he certainly did not represent a more moderate alternative in the primary.
Jamie
is it going to be a plutotheocracy or a theoplutocracy?
trollhattan
What part of “direct purchase of influence” does Frum not grock? All parts equally, or some parts even less than others?
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/11/casino-magnate-gave-390000-to.html
PIGL
@Mnemosyne: re the ripping apart by lions. We could do that. All we need is a Colliseum, and some fundy republicans in chains. And lions. Lotsa hungry lions. Or maybe crazed weasels.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Jamie:
The quick review of the career of Savonarola suggests that pluto- and theo- may be two poles of a single strange attractor in the – ocracy space we are now entering.
gnomedad
@Mnemosyne:
Fixed.
Update: Tried to fix this. What the hell just happened?
stickler
How is James O’Keefe still walking around free? Why isn’t he in an orange jumpsuit already? How many more illegal taping incidents does he have to be involved in before Johnny Law reaches out and touches him?
This can be a strange country.
Ruckus
@Bnut:
I’d want to do some thinking on this but first read it sounds like you do know something. Which means of course that as it sounds like a good idea, it will never come to pass.
Bnut
@Ruckus: If your name is from the Boondocks I promise to read your blog from now on. Don’t lie to me.
meander
stickler asks: “How is James O’Keefe still walking around free? Why isn’t he in an orange jumpsuit already?”
As a sequel to his shameful NJ exploits, perhaps O’Keefe needs to take on the powerful police unions and corrections unions. They are, after all, able to negotiate lucrative salaries, avoid oversight and so forth. So let’s see O’Keefe start secretly videotaping and audiotaping conversations with cops and corrections officers…
timb
he says that, but if I went anywhere near him with publicy financed elections, he and a local TV owner would beat me senseless while screaming about the Constitution.
Why doesn’t anyone EVER talk about publicly financed elections? Without the need to fund raise. lobbyists would not be as important and there would be less corruption.
Shalimar
@Bnut: I think the best idea has always been to ban private financing of campaigns and go with a strictly public model. start it up a month before the election and only allow them to use their money during that period. if they get publicity on their own outside of that month, good for them, but no organization.
Douglas
@timb:
What, and trample on the TV stations and media corps 1st ammendment rights by forcing them to air commercials for free?
That would be soshialism or sumthin’!
Ruckus
@Bnut:
I can’t lie. Well actually I can but I won’t here.
Alas I had never heard of Uncle Ruckus when I chose Ruckus as my screen name. And I have little in common with Uncle Ruckus other than to deny that I am black. If you look at my picture on my blog you will see that I am obviously not.
1. I don’t like Barry Manilow At all.
2. I have never had 32 jobs at the same time. Or ever.
3. I may act like one but I am not a cartoon.
4. I have never come to the defense of G fucking W
5. I’m not banned in america, though some days I feel like it.
John
You wanna get rid of the weirdos and outliers?
Redistricting reform. Stop drawing the goddamned legislative districts so the only election that matters is the primary.