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How the very wealthy stay in power and corrupt exhausted politicians
...In my experience, most politicians are human like the rest of us: flawed, idealistic, sometimes petty, sometimes awesome and generous people. They want to do well in their job, and they want to be able to come home and spend time with their families and hobbies. Most of the politicians I know are cool people with big hearts who are in politics for the right reasons. They tend to have bigger egos than most, but I tend to see bigger egos in the corporate world than the political world.
Money in politics has a nasty influence, but it's not what one might think at first. The problem is that raising money is an awful, exhausting dehumanizing process that sucks time, energy and idealism from anyone who engages in it. And to be successful in politics, you have to spend at least 3-4 hours a day on average just raising money. Anyone who works in non-profits has seen this firsthand in their world, too.
What ends up happening is that exhausted politicians are expected to live in a fishbowl taking barbs and arrows from all sides, smiling and shaking hands with hundreds of people while being experts on every issue. Then they get confronted by that proverbial lobbyist with the briefcase of $100,000 to be spent for or against them, and go with the flow not because it means chomping cigars in the Bahamas, but because to refuse the lobbyist means three more weekends away from the spouse and kids gladhanding unpleasant people and hosting rubber chicken dinners to make up for it. And if you think politicians in safe districts are immune, you'd be wrong: the safe ones are expected to raise boatloads of money to send to the leaders of their respective chambers for various reasons. Those who raise the most cash tend to see their bills sail through the appropriate committees. Those who don't raise the cash tend to feel cold shoulders from their colleagues and watch their bills mysteriously stall. If you've ever taken a shortcut at work because it's 6pm on a Friday night and you just want to go home, you know the most corrupting aspect of money in the political system.
The worst part? It's wrong, it's fixable, and fixing it would improve the lives of just about everyone in politics except for the consultants. But those who have made it to the top of the mountain worry that any changes might disadvantage them by altering the system they have learned to conquer. It's a classic collective action problem that won't be solved except by massive popular pressure.
The super-rich know this, too. It's in their interest to keep the big money flowing into the system. After all, to the top 1 percent of the 1 percent, it's pocket change they barely notice.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-very-wealthy-stay-in-power-and.html
Money in politics has a nasty influence, but it's not what one might think at first. The problem is that raising money is an awful, exhausting dehumanizing process that sucks time, energy and idealism from anyone who engages in it. And to be successful in politics, you have to spend at least 3-4 hours a day on average just raising money. Anyone who works in non-profits has seen this firsthand in their world, too.
What ends up happening is that exhausted politicians are expected to live in a fishbowl taking barbs and arrows from all sides, smiling and shaking hands with hundreds of people while being experts on every issue. Then they get confronted by that proverbial lobbyist with the briefcase of $100,000 to be spent for or against them, and go with the flow not because it means chomping cigars in the Bahamas, but because to refuse the lobbyist means three more weekends away from the spouse and kids gladhanding unpleasant people and hosting rubber chicken dinners to make up for it. And if you think politicians in safe districts are immune, you'd be wrong: the safe ones are expected to raise boatloads of money to send to the leaders of their respective chambers for various reasons. Those who raise the most cash tend to see their bills sail through the appropriate committees. Those who don't raise the cash tend to feel cold shoulders from their colleagues and watch their bills mysteriously stall. If you've ever taken a shortcut at work because it's 6pm on a Friday night and you just want to go home, you know the most corrupting aspect of money in the political system.
The worst part? It's wrong, it's fixable, and fixing it would improve the lives of just about everyone in politics except for the consultants. But those who have made it to the top of the mountain worry that any changes might disadvantage them by altering the system they have learned to conquer. It's a classic collective action problem that won't be solved except by massive popular pressure.
The super-rich know this, too. It's in their interest to keep the big money flowing into the system. After all, to the top 1 percent of the 1 percent, it's pocket change they barely notice.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-very-wealthy-stay-in-power-and.html
