Total Corruption

[jackace]

It's pretty sad how corrupt things have got in Washington. Both sides are doing and it has become a way of life for everyone involved.

"If we don't do anything about the way the conventions are financed, we have a danger that our democracy is going to be severely damaged by unequal access and unequal influence by convention donors," said Steve Weissman, of the Campaign Finance Institute.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5719036&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/MoneyTrail/

Edit- added extra link to show more articles about the problem.

 

[Moonbeam]

Money is speech and corporations are people.

 

[Robor]

Given the current system I can't imagine a presidential candidate getting this far without some dirty dollars stuffed in their pockets along the way.

 

[quest55720]

I agree that is why I love gridlock. The less these crooks can get done the better. It is just to easy to go to far and abuse power when one party has complete control.

 

[jackace]

Originally posted by: Robor
Given the current system I can't imagine a presidential candidate getting this far without some dirty dollars stuffed in their pockets along the way.

Exactly.

 

[Farang]

Not to spout some pro-Obama rhetoric, but I do believe the internet is going to be a positive influence in politics. It seems by his example that appealing to individuals to donate is much more effective than what we've seen in the past, not that he is free from any influence but if the internet proves a viable enough source of income to fund a major political campaign then we are going to have movements funded solely by the people.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: Farang
Not to spout some pro-Obama rhetoric, but I do believe the internet is going to be a positive influence in politics. It seems by his example that appealing to individuals to donate is much more effective than what we've seen in the past, not that he is free from any influence but if the internet proves a viable enough source of income to fund a major political campaign then we are going to have movements funded solely by the people.

It also makes it easier to circumvent campaign finance laws, since there is no way to validate who the donor is. I'm not saying that this is going on currently, but it would be trivial to set up.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: quest55720
I agree that is why I love gridlock. The less these crooks can get done the better. It is just to easy to go to far and abuse power when one party has complete control.

You have ot understand that gridlock just means handing the power from the elected government over to the powerful private corporatocracy.

Electing corporatist leaders may be even worse, but the only way to get things better is not gridloc, but electing aa pro-public majority. IMO, that means progressives.

The same people who are here demanding that we let the paid campaign managers run the system by letting them keep Palin from the media are the problem voters.

 

[Thump553]

I don't understand-this thread is entitled "Total Corruption-both sides are doing it" and the posts bemoan how both parties are corrupt-but the linked article is solely about how the GOP convention is bought and paid for by corporations under investigation, how they have millionaire box seats at the convention and how none of this financing has to be disclosed until well after the election.

I've reread the article twice and not a mention of the Democratic Party is found.

Please provide some evidence how the GOP's continued corporate financing and corruption taints the Democratic Party. Or is it just an unfounded assumption based upon general pessimism? Assuming all are crooks is taking a long step towards keeping the current crooks in office-which is what the GOP is striving for.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I don't understand-this thread is entitled "Total Corruption-both sides are doing it" and the posts bemoan how both parties are corrupt-but the linked article is solely about how the GOP convention is bought and paid for by corporations under investigation, how they have millionaire box seats at the convention and how none of this financing has to be disclosed until well after the election.

I've reread the article twice and not a mention of the Democratic Party is found.

Please provide some evidence how the GOP's continued corporate financing and corruption taints the Democratic Party. Or is it just an unfounded assumption based upon general pessimism? Assuming all are crooks is taking a long step towards keeping the current crooks in office-which is what the GOP is striving for.

The Republicans are almost entirely dominated by the corporatist agenda, and has voters who swallow up the marketing from them.

The democratic party is not their opposite; it has two main 'wings', the 'DLC' and 'blue dog' wing who are also linked to the corporatists, and the progressive wing who oppposes it.

So youhave the 'corrupt party' and the 'mixed, partly corrupt' party. You can see the DLC influenc on democrats in Clinton's siding with the Telecommuications industry, NAFTA etc.

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: Craig234
* * *
The Republicans are almost entirely dominated by the corporatist agenda, and has voters who swallow up the marketing from them.

The democratic party is not their opposite; it has two main 'wings', the 'DLC' and 'blue dog' wing who are also linked to the corporatists, and the progressive wing who oppposes it.

So youhave the 'corrupt party' and the 'mixed, partly corrupt' party. You can see the DLC influenc on democrats in Clinton's siding with the Telecommuications industry, NAFTA etc.

Where was that in the linked article? The linked article was all about how a loophole in campaign financing laws allows corporations to fund conventions (otherwise corporations have been barred for decades from making political contributions), that the GOP received at least $58,000,000 in corporate contributions to put on their convention, with an undisclosed amount spent on private parties to wine, dine and influence the delegates.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: Thump553

Originally posted by: Craig234
* * *
The Republicans are almost entirely dominated by the corporatist agenda, and has voters who swallow up the marketing from them.

The democratic party is not their opposite; it has two main 'wings', the 'DLC' and 'blue dog' wing who are also linked to the corporatists, and the progressive wing who oppposes it.

So youhave the 'corrupt party' and the 'mixed, partly corrupt' party. You can see the DLC influenc on democrats in Clinton's siding with the Telecommuications industry, NAFTA etc.

Where was that in the linked article? The linked article was all about how a loophole in campaign financing laws allows corporations to fund conventions (otherwise corporations have been barred for decades from making political contributions), that the GOP received at least $58,000,000 in corporate contributions to put on their convention, with an undisclosed amount spent on private parties to wine, dine and influence the delegates.

Maybe thisis the relevant quote:

In addition to spending millions on lavish parties, big corporations have put up $58 million dollars for the Republican convention.

They put up about the same for the Democrats in Denver.

 

[jackace]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I don't understand-this thread is entitled "Total Corruption-both sides are doing it" and the posts bemoan how both parties are corrupt-but the linked article is solely about how the GOP convention is bought and paid for by corporations under investigation, how they have millionaire box seats at the convention and how none of this financing has to be disclosed until well after the election.

I've reread the article twice and not a mention of the Democratic Party is found.

Please provide some evidence how the GOP's continued corporate financing and corruption taints the Democratic Party. Or is it just an unfounded assumption based upon general pessimism? Assuming all are crooks is taking a long step towards keeping the current crooks in office-which is what the GOP is striving for.

It was on nightline tonight, if you look back at the democratic convention they had the same story. In the show tonight they talked about both, but the article on the website only refers to the GOP convention.

Here is a link to more articles. Including one about the Democrats.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/MoneyTrail/