General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Biting political analysis of the McCain funeral from Jeet Heer: [View all]JHan
(10,173 posts)(while I'm aware of his flaws, both he and Lincoln rank high on my top presidents list.)
As for Corporate Money, it's a reality that's always been there. We've had some truly horrible developments since the aughts: Citizens United being the main one, which has impacted all of politics. Right now even some progressive groups are 501c4's.
This corruption situation is not at all new. As I've said before here, history is replete with far more jarringly corrupt examples like Tammany Hall, Boss Tweed, Huey Long. The Astors and Vanderbilts were known to influence elections, then there was the Pendergast Machine which helped Truman launch his career (Bless him though, because I rank him highly ) and then William A Clark.
Also, Defense Contractors has Congress wrapped around their fingers. This is the case in every state - particularly swing districts. They've got their tenterhooks in the military appropriations committee. And really, if you're a Senator, Congressman/woman are you really going to say no to anyone in that industry setting up shop in your state and providing jobs? If you challenge them, they'll sink you.
So we've got these countervailing factors we ought to be aware of when we assess how successful or unsuccessful Dems are in implementing things..
This is why I lean more towards Alinksy " he who fears corruption fears life." I want reps to improve systems when they have the power to - make them more robust, improve regulatory frameworks. Republicans have had way too much success tipping the scales towards corporate power, upsetting the balance between initiative/enterprise and checks and balances on the system to ensure fairness. But I expect politics to be complicated, slightly corrupt at times, and very messy because that's the nature of power - it may have no moral valence on its own but to grasp it one must be cunning, shrewd and sometimes use the tools of your enemies to greater advance your own causes.