While money in politics does no guarantee a win...it does play a part.
As in ‘Iron bars do not a cage make’ but they sure help…. :P
The example of no guarantee would be the last presidential election. A great deal of money was spent by both sides. The losers just lost whatever they spent regardless of race or side of the aisle.
Money makes a bigger impact in local elections when its just hard to get your message out other than party affiliation. I think the GOP was more effective in this strategy during the past few election cycles.
With that thought in mind this group/article not only looks at all the issues but then looks for laws to fix them. That is a huge difference. Complaints are fine, but where are the solutions? People would rather woof than fix. And even then fix is hard.
Then the question is how much pressure does the public put on politicians versus their calculated value of each part pay off better in fixing things. Example they want me to close this loop hole, but this loop hole provided me enough money to meet budget requirements to get party support..…
Will ignoring this issue cost me more in votes than being able to slander my opponent, because I sure as hell don’t put up issues and plans that I can be measured against for effectiveness. If I can avoid it. I might put them up if donors demand it if it will help me, and if its for a pork barrel or special legal tax exemption, etc, well, that stays under the table.
Negative politics, slander, disinformation, pandering, muckraking, are still more effective than proposing solutions.
What will it cost me in $$$ to pay off kids in other countries to slander my opponent or validate bigotry on any side of any issue?
When ALL news organizations from Fox to PBS started reporting on money as some kind of valid ‘pre-vote support’ measurement a couple of decades ago, then that pulled people into a political sphere. The media just wanted attention for building up a ‘horse race’. And you can bet on elections.
And then that idiotic idea is promoted as ‘not wasting a vote’ by voting for a ‘winner’ instead of voting for who represents you the best. I think that message has less meaning now, but, if it got you any votes then it is worth repeating.
No vote is ever wasted. Vote for the person who best represents your issues. Vote for the person who may not agree with your social wedge issue, but will solve the big issues that government should have a hand in.
Best of luck.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/limiting-secret-money-in-politics/