Everyone is talking about all the foreign and untraceable money coming into the campaign, but few seem to be focusing on where it eventually ends up - in the pockets of TV stations who run the funded advertisements. It is glaringly obvious that this situation creates a heavy Republican bias among broadcasters. The opening of the Citizens United door has been seen as a boon for corporate favorites - but the money doesn't just leave, it arrives. What goes up most come down. What goes out must come in.... somewhere. It simply arrives back into the pockets, with maybe a degree of two of separation for show, of those who spent it.
It's kind of like urine -- mostly water goes in, mostly water comes out. In the middle, some sort of deposit is left. Hopefully it's beneficial. In this case, money leaves the corporations; then, in the middle an ad comes out on TV that will ideally influence a gullible public; and then the money goes right back to the broadcasters who are tied to the corporations that funded things in the first place.
This may not seem like big news. It may not seem diary-worthy. But it just struck me how insidious it is. It's no wonder that the corporations can throw unlimited amounts behind their politicians -- those politicians use that money to pay corporate-allied broadcasters for the ads. It is a money cycle that almost amounts to free TV advertising or money-laundering. We can only continue to hope that it backfires....
Of course, the sad thing is that Democratic candidates, with their limited funds, are giving every cent to the same broadcasters who would be downright anti-capitalist if they didn't favor the Republicans that give them 20 times more business.
Yeah, the whole thing makes me feel sick. The sickness of our system permeates everything I see, including this website -- I understand the incessant push for the funding of progressive candidates. I know that's the only way to fight -- or, at least, I agree that it is at this stage of the game. But ALLLLLLLLLL that money goes to people who are biased heavily towards the more highly funded Republicans and will remain so. So, in the end, how is it not lose-lose? How can the cycle ever be broken if money is the only thing that talks?
I will vote for Democrats, of course, and do what I can to support them. But until money is not the only way to act in this process, the money-centered party will dominate.