The 5/11 Boston Globe had an article about fund-raising for Congressional campaigns. It explains how freshman Congress members - even before they're sworn in to their jobs - can be pressed by party leaders to make fund-raising the largest time slot on their schedule. Not just in election year, but throughout their entire term.
At a [Democratic] party-sponsored orientation session, the freshmen — many still giddy from winning close races in which they espoused grand plans to change the Capitol’s toxicatmosphere — were schooled in their party’s simple list of priorities for them.
Raise money. Raise more. Win.
It's not issues. It's not ending gerrymandering and other election abuses which have been playing a larger role in recent elections. It's not working toward overturning Citizens United - that might scare off big donors. The strategy (if looked at from a progressive perspective) is self-defeating. Citizens United lets pro-corporate politicians raise big money - so you go to the corporations to get big money to compete. That means you can't fight against big corporate money in politics, so politics continues to be dominated by corporate money. Therefore, you keep seeking corporate money and further indebt yourself to them. A Congress member could try to collect the vast sums used in today's campaigns all from small contributions from average Americans. At best, that takes more time and effort - time and effort those with corporate money can use campaigning instead. The dynamics will lead most politicians to seek big donors.
The pressure to raise money opens the door for special interests, a timeless source of ready money, now available in greater amounts than ever.
“Of course they are all people with specific agendas, generally corporate agendas. So that’s how the ball gets rolling in terms of the interaction that leads to lobbyists influencing legislation, and members turning to lobbyists for money," [Rep. Alan] Grayson said.
This fund-raising occupies a lot of their time.
Democrat and Republican freshmen in targeted districts say they often spend up to half their days raising money, whether through dreaded “call times” at a party-run phone bank near the Capitol, or attending fund-raisers.
But it's not just targeted districts.
The newcomers were told to devote at least four hours each day to the tedious task of raising money... That’s twice as much time as party leaders expect them to dedicate to committee hearings and floor votes, or meetings with constituents.
If that's not scary enough, read this.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, function “basically like telemarketing firms,”
So, campaign budgets grow.
The average amount raised by each freshmen in the first quarter has jumped 76 percent over the past decade to $188,313,
That's the first 3 months of their 2 year term. And a Congress member can't opt out of selling himself to the highest bidder if he wants help from the party.
Democrats and Republicans alike are compelled to sign confidential agreements with their parties’ campaign committees, pledging to meet specific fund-raising goals each quarter in exchange for a commitment of heavy financial support as the election draws near.
The party doesn't even leave the fund-raising choices up to them.
Party leaders introduce freshmen to lobbyists right off the bat and actively encourage them to start working the phones, said Representative Alan Grayson
Neither spending time on fund-raising rather than other matters nor politicians becoming even more indebted to the 1% are good for efforts for social change. A lack of efforts to end gerrymandering, Citizens United, and practices which discourage selected voters can only continue and extend conservatives holding more seats than Americans actually want them to have.
Social change advocates need to find a way to promote their agendas. That is being made impossible to do through the political processes the Globe article describes.
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The article suggests:
The all-consuming quest for dollars is part of Washington’s permanent, intensely waged campaign for party dominance.
But this doesn't seem quite right to me. The Democrats aren't making such a big issue of gerrymandering, long waiting lines at polling sites, voter intimidation, etc. These have reduced the number of seats the Democrats hold. In the 2012 election - if you add up all the votes in every Congressional district in the nation - you find Democrats got 51% of the votes for seats in the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, because of gerrymandering, Republicans hold a significant majority in the House. The lack of a serious Democratic effort to change this seems to be the opposite of an "intensely waged campaign for party dominance".
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Many Daily Kos members are familiar with receiving fund-raising emails. Clearly, it's not directed solely at businesses and the wealthy. But who are those Congress members phoning when they're making the calls themselves? Probably not you and me.