Where are all the Democratic supporting Billionaires ? Or do they not exist ?

[OnDoutside]

This is something I can't understand, you have the likes of the Koch brothers, Mercers etc pumping hundreds of millions of dollars (and more) into "covert" Republican operations, why aren't Democratic Billionaire supporters doing the same ?

It feels like the Democratic Party is a punch drunk boxer, just standing there taking hit after hit and not giving it back. And I'm not even talking about lying or underhand stuff as the Reps do, but getting the truth out there from 50/50 states to deep red states, to people who only watch Fox, go on RW sites or listen to the RW nutjobs.

The likes of Gates, Soros and Buffet do great philanthropic work but what the Republicans are doing could set America back decades in the type of Social Justice changes that they themselves advocate.

Where's the strategy ? Where's the action ? Where are the big Democratic backers ?

[lies]

1. Welll

First there are some, like Soros, Zuckerberg, Walton and Slim.

Second, it didn't matter at all in 2016. Democrats way out spent Trump.

Third, Sanders outraised Clinton in some months with endless small donations.

Finally, the goal IMO should be taking money out of politics, not flooding it with money from more1%ers.

[OnDoutside]

4. How's that taking money out of politics working then ? I would suggest

matching them, get back into power and get Citizens United overturned so politics can start to get back to normal. Presidency, Senate and House all in Rep hands says they're winning.

[lies]

19. It's not been tried

You can't judge something no one's ever tried.

Try it first. Then whinge about it.

And if you think it's the money that's making them win, you're ignoring the fact that Hillary ahd a spent a LOT more than Trump....

How'd that work out?

[OnDoutside]

20. Because until Democrats regain control, the battle is lost on taking big money out of politics.

You are ignoring the probable billions spent covertly to

a Bring Hillary's numbers down, and make her a hate figure to the ordinary idiots
b run the campaigns from "dog catcher to Governor", which culminated in the gerrymandered districts, allowing Reps to take over the House, leading to where we are now.

As much as any one of us would like to hold hands and fight the good fight, we have to face reality too.

[lies]

23. I can't

base anything on your conspiracy theories.

And reality is that MONEY in politics is corrosive.

I won't screw over my beliefs to compete with a scumbag on their terms. That's how Democrats lose, by making the differences between us and them smaller.

[OnDoutside]

26. By behaving like a Pollyanna, you'll be waiting a while for Republicans to see the error of their

ways.

What I'm suggesting is that covert ops be used to get the truth out there, not lies. The game has become a lot more complicated, and reasoned debate no longer exists between left and right. How do you get the information to your average Trump voter ?

[lies]

37. Nope

I'm utterly unwilling to be a scumbag to fight scumbags. There's no point.

You want people to support you? Be something you'd support.

If the Dems go down this path I won't support them.

[OnDoutside]

41. You're just thinking Rep covert ops, no, I'd say few Democrats want to go down that road

however you can do covert/outside the box ops like exposing Republican lies, getting ads out that are truthful, fact based. There are lots of things that can be done, but are not being done on a coordinated well funded basis. The fightback doesn't mean they have to be scumbags like the Reps.

[Amishman]

12. Mayor Bloomberg as well

He single handedly offsets the NRA's spending with his contributions and organizations. None of the recent state level background check laws would have been possible without deep financial support on his part.

[OnDoutside]

15. That's the type of fightback that is needed.

[democratisphere]

2. Democratic billionaires like to sell software, laptops, pads, ketchup, cheese

and insurance to deplorables. They mumble and keep their heads down.

[OnDoutside]

5. Could be, but where the US is now might destroy the economy. That won't do much for sales.

[JI7]

3. you want them to put money into covert operations ?

It's easy for republicans since they are plaYing to a certain type of voter .

I have said before that the parties are not the same and what works with republucans usually won't work with democratsn

[OnDoutside]

6. But Reps use covert ops for bad, you could just as easily use those ops for good i.e. truth

Trumpists are only getting their info from one source, how else are they going to be convinced ? There has to be another way.

[JI7]

7. they have other sources also. they go to the ones that sayc what they want to hear

[OnDoutside]

14. Which is why there is a need for covert ops to throw the truth across their path, in a setting that

they would not expect to see. I don't see how one could ever, otherwise, get through to them.

[JI7]

28. It's not about the truth for them . they hear the truth and reject it

[OnDoutside]

32. Yes but it would be wrong for Democrats to walk away from them. Many of these are simple people

and are disgusted with the carry on of "Washington", not realising that the "Washington" is largely the Republican Party's disgraceful behaviour.

[JI7]

34. nobody is walking away from them. And they are disgusted with minorities

Not washinton.

[LeftInTX]

8. We don't have as many billionaires and millionaires

There are alot of Republican millionaires who donate to the PACs and SuperPacs...

Look at Steve Bannon...he's a millionaire who made money at Goldman Sacs, then started making right wing movies and took over Breitbart. Bannon is not a billionaire, but he has inflicted a lot of damage.

I don't think Roger Stone is a billionaire

Look at the owners of the National Enquirer...(Maybe they are billionaires)

There is also a lot of money invested in down ballot elections.

These conservative groups sprung up after the 1964 election. Republicans feared they would become extinct, so they created all these groups. They've been working on this for a long time.

There are so many of them and they are dirty tricksters.

[OnDoutside]

17. And yet you look at the likes of Gates, Chuck Feeney and Buffett who are outstanding

in their philanthropic gift giving, but if they diverted even a small portion of that to righting the US ship, it would make the world a better place almost automatically.

It has to start somewhere, and a lot can be achieved with backing like that.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. I Think It's Pretty Simple

High volume philanthropists are putting money into things from which they do NOT directly benefit, but just feel it would be for the overall betterment.

On the other side, like the people you mention, they are not donating. They're investing. They're looking for a direct return on investment that personally benefits them.

It's apples and oranges.

[Demsrule86]

11. What better investment then in taking down Trump?

[ProfessorGAC]

16. But Philanthropists Don't Think That Way

They're not looking for an ROI. So, that is not an investment for them. They're not looking for payback on their dollars except in the most diffuse and indirect way or bettering society in general. Hence, investing in fine art programs, or IT wiring schools in poor districts.

They don't get anything from that. But, it's a good thing to do, they have plenty of money, so they do it.

It's the far right that sees political contributions as investments that provide a direct and personal return. The folks in the OP aren't wired like that.

[Demsrule86]

24. That is not true. We used to have big donors...but the last eight years

have driven them away...and we should find like minded Democratic donors. Had Strickland had the money, he could have beaten Portman, but with Koch money coming his way the DNC could not match the money...and we have few big donors these days...look at the results.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. Well, I Now Have Whiplash

You changed the premise once and the subject twice. Apparently you really didn't want to discuss this.
I'm out

[Demsrule86]

45. No I didn't.

We need big donors...in a perfect world we would have no united and taxpayer funded election of a shorter duration than those today...but we must deal with reality and accept the need for big Dem donors...we can find like minded folks to fund our candidates and our think tanks which we need more of by the way.

[Demsrule86]

46. We need more money to fight for candidates fighting incumbents like Portman... and saving our

incumbents like Sherrod Brwon...100 million is a conservative estimate of what is coming for Sherrod Brown by Koch...

[NewJeffCT]

10. I read an article on this a while back

but, a quick google search was fruitless

Basically, if my memory is correct, RW billionaires like Scaife, Adelson, Walton, Koch, etc donate money to RW think tanks and causes and basically give the RW Think Tank or 529 Group free reign to use it how they see fit. (of course, left unsaid in that article is that when the RWer wins, they're beholden to the billionaire donors) When liberals with a lot of money donate, they tend to get more involved in managing where the money goes - they want the liberal think tank to agree to do X, Y and Z to promote liberal causes and candidates, and sometimes the liberal think tank doesn't want to follow that prescription, so the liberal moneybags will then move on to the next progressive organization...

[Demsrule86]

13. Consider this...

The right wing billionaires are in agreement with the GOP so the GOP can take their money with no worries...we could have Democrat donors who agree with our ideas who could do the same...but we have not really welcomed them during the last eight years...and look at the results. Sure presidential candidates can usually get enough funds and are often rich, but the house, the senate and state elections especially in off years don't get the money. Sherrod Brown will have 100 million coming against him next year. We could lose him. Time to face reality and find some like minded Democratic donors who are with us. The "get big money out thing" only works to help elect Republicans in the age of United...I would love to see public financed campaigns that were waged for much shorter amounts of time. However , this is not the reality we face.

[OnDoutside]

18. Thank you, this is my concern.

[Demsrule86]

22. It is my concern as well.

You have to play by the rules as they exist.

[Kentonio]

21. According to Facebook..

George Soros is busy leading a cabal of evil liberals who control the media and want to turn America into a communist utopia.

[Demsrule86]

25. I wish that were so.

[HughBeaumont]

30. AH, yes, Comrade SOWROS . . . .

. . . that guy who, in the 70s-90s, helped transition most Eastern Euro regimes from totalitarian rule to more Democratic processes and movements and from Communism to Capitalism. Oh, and has donated $11 billion towards philanthropic causes. What an absolute shit, right?

If THAT'S the right's idea of a "Commie", I'd sure hate to see what their ideal right winger is.

[Me.]

27. They're There

In fact, there's an upcoming meeting, but you'll find some dems are upset about it, wanting to get money out of politics. Which I agree with. However, until that applies to both sides we may need to fight dollar to dollar.

[OnDoutside]

29. Excellent, that's good news. We all want to get money and corporations out of politics but

unless someone can come up with a better plan, then we have to match fire with fire.

I note President Obama's meeting with Warren Buffett shortly after he left office as hope there may be something in the pipeline.

[brooklynite]

31. Here's an answer I've shared with Party leadership

Liberal funders are emotional. They support candidates and groups that advocate for issues they care about: environment, immigration, reproductive rights, etc.

Conservative funders are TACTICAL. They start with a goal (win control of the NC legislature) and support any candidate or group that furthers that goal.

[OnDoutside]

33. True and no better example than their backing of an amoral orange despot. If Liberal funders

aren't emotional about what Trump is doing to the EPA, Education, Healthcare etc, then they never will.

[BainsBane]

35. We're all paid by Soros

Didn't you hear?

[OnDoutside]

42. I haven't been paid yet !!! ;)

[CrispyQ]

36. They could start with buying a couple of radio stations in the rust belt to fight hate radio.

They could hire Goerge Lakoff to help frame the message instead of letting the repubs frame it all the time. You know, fight fire with fire. People don't like to hear it, but the democratic party is partially responsible for this mess. If they'd been a true opposition party for the past 37 years, instead of drifting to the right with every election, we wouldn't be in this mess.

I jokingly told my husband yesterday, that Ivanka Trump will be our first female president. We laughed & laughed, but as I thought about it throughout the day, it doesn't seem as far fetched as I initially believed.

[librechik]

38. Billionaires are almost always crooked bastards who like owning slaves and polluting etc

There are a few who aren't like that, but most of those don't like liberals much, but they could be persuaded, like Soros.

So why aren't we urgently asking for their help???? Maybe we are, I dunno.
We really need a TV channel like Fox but for Democrats and truthful.

Why doesn't this happen???

[OnDoutside]

43. Any TV channel would probably have to be "entertaining"...unfortunately facts aren't sexy

[MFM008]

39. Tom Steyer

There's one...

[OnDoutside]

44. Looks good

Steyer is a leading Democratic activist and fundraiser. In 1983, he worked on Walter Mondale's presidential campaign.[30] He raised money for Bill Bradley in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. An early supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2008, Steyer became one of Barack Obama’s most prolific fundraisers. Steyer served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 2004 and 2008, and has been a member of the Hamilton Project since 2005.[2]

Steyer has been compared with and contrasted with the Koch brothers, billionaire businessmen who engage in extensive political activity, and has been viewed as a Koch adversary.[31][32][33] Some Democrats view Steyer as the left's answer to the Kochs.[34][35] Steyer has been critical of the Kochs, seeking to distinguish himself from them.[9][36]

Steyer is involved with the Democracy Alliance, a network of progressive donors whose membership in the group requires them to donate at least $200,000 a year to recommended organizations

and

Speculation about a run for office[edit]

In 2015, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Steyer is "keeping alive a possible bid for governor in 2018."[70] Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee suggests that Steyer's criticism of high gas prices signalled preparations for a possible 2018 run.[71] With the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States on November 8, 2016, Steyer rethought his position on running for Governor. He told KQED's The California Report: "I was thinking very seriously about running for Governor. I hadn’t decided. I thought Hillary [Clinton] would win. But I wanted to get the facts before I made a decision. My thinking has changed. We’re in a very tough spot. And I’m damned if I’m not going to fight about it."