Money. That is always the answer in American Politics. Right or Left, Progressive or Tea Party, the only thing that really matters is money. A politician’s morals are dollar signs, their beliefs mirror those of their biggest donors, a voter’s voice is only as loud as their financial contribution. If you don’t give them money, then you are irrelevant. If your movement doesn’t give them money it will move nothing. If your protest doesn’t bring a check, you will be ignored. If you want change, then you need to be the highest bidder.
A politician has one job and one job only, to win elections. That’s it. Winning elections is the number one priority for a politician because that is how they keep their job. They keep winning elections; they keep getting all the perks of being an elected official. They don’t get to keep their jobs by making your life better or making your kids’ life better or making the country better. Those things, maybe, on occasion, will help a politician win an election. In reality the votes that politicians make in office on a day-to-day basis don’t win elections. Money wins elections. The more money they have the more money they can spend convincing you that they should keep their jobs. They tell you how great they are and how awful the person who is running against them is. None of it is honest. It’s all spin and exaggeration and hyperbole. But that is how you win an election in America; you outspend your opponent.
The candidates who run and the candidates who win are not the best people for the jobs. Not even close. Even the supposed good ones are terrible. The real reason they are in those positions is because they can be bought and they can raise money. Ted Cruz is hated within his own party, but they keep putting him up and backing his campaigns. Why? He can raise money and win elections. He has proven his actions have no impact on his electability. He fled to Cancun when people in his state were freezing to death. Didn’t matter. Trump called his wife ugly, he dropped to his knees and made campaign calls (raises money) for Trump. Spineless. Didn’t matter. Democrats hope for holding their Senate seats in 2024 is dependent on how much money they can raise. Their platform is just a means to raise money.
Democrats need for cash drives their actions is office. Guns are a threat to every man, woman, and child in our country. Mass shootings are not even news anymore. And even though 70-80% of the country wants stricter gun laws, we’ll never see them. Why? Gun violence is too valuable to Democrats. Democrats fundraise off of gun violence. They tell us that they will do something to curb gun violence every election and nothing changes. If they pass laws to outlaw assault weapons it will cost the Democrats too much money, so they don’t do it.
Abortion is the same. The worst thing to happen to Republicans was the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Promising to overturn Roe was their major fundraising vehicle. The Republican platform depended on the continuation of access to abortion. When that ended, they lost money. They did it, they won, and the money stopped. On the other hand, the best thing to happen to the Democrats was the Dobbs decision. People were rightfully furious. How dare they overturn 50 years of established law! People protested and signed petitions and, most importantly, donated money. Lots of money. So much money that the expected midterm red wave was nothing more than a passing pink drizzle. The Democrats could restructure the Supreme Court to overturn Dobbs by adding more seats or by impeaching sitting justices for a multitude of reasons (lying to congress, being bribed, ethics violations) but the Democrats will never do that because they have a new cash cow in Dobbs.
Weapons of war will always be legal as long as there is an NRA type organization that pays off politicians. This will not change until there is an organization with more money than the NRA that pays off politicians to ban and continue to ban weapons of war. The NRA gives politicians grades on how a politician supports guns and the 2nd amendment. Where is the organization that grades politicians on protecting people and saving lives? People continue to protest and have sit-ins and share social media campaigns and none of it matters and none of it will ever change anything. Create an Anti-NRA organization, raise money and buy politicians.
Oil companies pay politicians to ignore the fact that our planet is on fire. That’s the extent that money influences politicians. Politicians would rather have more money in their campaign account than a planet to live on. Winning elections is more important to them than planet Earth. It’s true and it’s insane.
Name any problem in this country and the solution is money. Want to end racism? Start buying politicians. Equal rights for the LGBTQ community? Start buying politicians. Climate change? Buy some politicians. Decrease the wage gap? Increase the wages of politicians. Politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, don’t do the right thing for free, they don’t do anything for free. To them the right thing to do is the thing that pays the most money.
Until this is fully understood by the left, nothing is ever going to change. Money influences politicians, not sit-ins or protests or sending emails. Change isn’t free. If you want it, you have to pay for it.