I got a solicitation to enter a Mayday/MoveOn video contest—create a 30 second spot about the corrupting influence of money in politics, which if peer-voted worthy plus anointed by their celebrity panel might end up getting a national audience. Wowzer!
30 seconds is hard. It’s demanding and uncompromising and shallow and impertinent. “Gimme a half a minute” is a phrase never spoken by someone expecting much, yet it asks—typically with exasperation—for a little effin’ consideration here!! Stressors on full, I set to work on a half-minute magic bullet ad that would open America’s eyes to the wicked enchantment that has its political system in thrall of Mammon.
The basic idea seemed straightforward—how hard could it be to call out the whore of Babylon, the dragon of greed, the insidious, invidious root of evil? Then again, how hard can it be to keep Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump off your television? 30 seconds is a sneeze spore against a 30-year neoconservative corrosion of values reduced to dollars. Of an entrenched, gilded K Street brothel culture, of zombie TParty hooligans and a Citizens United creature devoid of soul yet entitled to feast on citizens’ flesh and blood.
TOO ESOTERIC! Past is prologue and zeitgeist could give a shit. Also, PARTISAN! Since something like 43% of the 99% seemingly has a Stockholm syndrome attachment to right-wing nostrums their mothers taught them better than to believe, you better have a damn sturdy double-sided two-by-four argument to whup upside their head.
Several dozen ideas were tried and discarded as too unwieldy or wordy or obtuse. But during image research, I came across one of the oldest and sturdiest images of all time, by the veritable father of American political cartooning, Thomas Nast. I knew I had to use it, and its implacable essence anchors a dense plot of text without flinching...in fact, there were an extra nine seconds to spare which let the final call to action hang. At least that’s the author’s perception, which is suspect. If you can spare the consideration, let me know in comments if it works for you (if it does, please vote here). If not, there’s still almost two weeks left for more submissions—which is a hell of a lot of 30 second increments.
Sun Oct 05, 2014 at 12:36 AM PT: Spirit of Life kindly pointed out a glaring error in original vid—the wrong voting date!! Here’s the rewrite: