The Coin-Operated Cesspool of Washington D.C.

[Panaconda]

Making Ends Meet in Coin-Operated Washington
(with apologies to the late, great Damon Runyon)

by Michael Winship

...

I have not been with Gorilla since he and I were young and flimflamming the tourists around New York Harbor, telling them that the Statue of Liberty is green on account of it was a gift from the generous people of Mars. Now here he is in Washington, which to me is passing strange. For if Boston is the home of the bean and the cod, as the poet once said, then surely Washington is the home of the scheme and the fraud, and so I ask Gorilla, who I thought had gone the route of the straight and narrow, what he is doing in such a place.

...

"Coin-operated indeed," I reply. "Look at what is in the newspaper here. According to The Washington Post, and I quote: 'Interest groups are spending five times as much on the 2010 congressional elections as they did on the last midterms, and they are more secretive than ever about where that money is coming from. The $80 million spent so far by groups outside the Democratic and Republican parties dwarfs the $16 million spent at this point for the 2006 midterms.'

...

"How can that be?" I respond. "Leave us face it, there is an awful lot of lettuce rolling loose in this fair city and I fear it is far too great a temptation for one as light-fingered as yourself. The Democratic National Committee raised more than $16 million last month even though they are supposed to be losing. The Center for Responsive Politics, an organization filled with honest types who I take to be very much on the level, says big oil and gas have spent more than $17 million on federal elections this year -- so far. News Corp, the people who own Fox News, although they call themselves fair and balanced, has given a million bucks to the Republican Governors Association and another million to the US Chamber of Commerce which freely throws around money on pro-business candidates like a guy who is out of his mind about a doll."

...

"Better," Gorilla says, and pulls a piece of paper from his inside pocket. "Feast your eyes upon this. According to the website known as Politico.com, in just the last two weeks before the House adjourned so its members could go campaigning, more than 400 fundraisers were held in Washington for congressional candidates -- wine and bourbon tastings, beer blasts, barbecues, swanky cocktail parties, dinners and luncheons. Thousands of people, hungry for my finger food and pastries. After all these years, I am making it hand over fist."

...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/05-9

[marmar]

1. Cash and Carry government

nt

[KharmaTrain]

2. Law Of Diminishing Returns...

If there's a silver lining in this obscene spending is what these high rollers will get in return. We're all hoping MegNut goes down in flames after spending what could be $150 million. There are sure to be other races where all the money went for naught or that the candidate they thought they bought didn't stay that way. It could lead some of these high rollers with a bad taste in their mouths and a hole in their wallet.

We've developed a never-ending campaign season. No sooner is one election over than the next begins...especially the fundraising. There's a cottage industry of consultants, pollsters and fulltime fundraisers that make a very nice buck from this and a big reason why our "legislators" rarely legislate compared to begging for money. With the average House seat costing upwards of 2 to 5 million and Senate seats going for 20 mil or more, the money's gotta come from somewhere...no Bucks, No Buck Rogers...and those in that money chain love it that way. It's where the future Roves and Plouffe come from.

The gravy train gets longer and longer and will keep chugging along as long as elections themselves are profitable and the high rollers are able to game the system via their checkbook. It won't be until those legislators feel truly threatened by the system and overwhelmed by the money they need to raise that they may, just may look into some serious reforms. It's up to them to turn off the Citiznes United spigot.

[blindpig]

3. This may be the apogee of Capitalist Democracy

The ruling class controls the government flat out with legal bribery all out in the open and legal. Yet it is 'democracy' and cannot be challenged. The vote and free speech mean nothing in such an environment. Something gotta give, and it will, but it ain't gonna happen in the voting booth.