Welcome to the New Normal:
[W]ith Election Day finally upon us, take a moment to turn on your TV and radio, or to ignore your caller ID and pick up the phone. Immerse yourself in the reality of American politics in the Citizens United world and start getting used to our democracy’s newest tradition. Watch in October and November to see the final bids in the auction for the U.S. government; then tune in again in early 2015 to find out which members of the one percent actually won.
Whatever happens tomorrow, whatever "takeaway" the seven-figure pundit class conjures up as reflecting the "mood" of the electorate, one fact is
undeniable:
Republican dark money groups are outspending their Democratic counterparts by an incredible margin, according to data from the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.
During this cycle, conservative groups that do not disclose their donors have spent more than $94 million, while liberal dark money groups have spent more than $28 million.
Dark Money is well-named--it is money that is too ashamed to withstand public scrutiny. It's money that
hides underneath a rock. It's money that dare not speak its name, because were its sources and motives revealed, its owners believe that the average American
just wouldn't understand.
It's money that buys the right to pollute and "deregulate." It's money that buys the right to outsource, to squirrel away profits overseas, safely free of taxes that pay for our roads, our armed forces, our citizens' heath care, our local police and ambulances, our schools, our national parks, our disaster relief, our Social Security. It's money that buys the right for the richest among us to avoid paying their fair share. It's money that allows billionaires to avoid the same taxes paid by the low-wage workers who feed their empires.
It's money that has nothing to do with you or me. It's money to buy the type of venal politicians who will work to accomplish all of the above, and little or nothing else.
The Mitch McConnells, the Joni Ernsts, the Tom Cottons, the Scott Walkers who this money is designed to buy off aren't working for us. They never will, because we don't have enough money to shine their shoes. Without that money they wouldn't be in office. And by God, they know how to show their gratitude.
If there is single thing the Republican Party has done in the past six years for anyone in this country not a member of their "donor class," then I have yet to see it. Maybe someone can clue me in.
And if you think that the corporations and their billionaire officers, directors and CEO's are going to "create jobs," create "prosperity," create anything except profits for themselves, then my friend, you just haven't been paying attention. During the last six years corporations have had a run like no other in American history. They pay the lowest taxes in American history. Where'd all those massive profits go? Did they fulfill their promise of creating good, living wage jobs for all of the Americans who voted for those same politicians who worked to allow those profits to flow so hugely, so endlessly?
No. They didn't invest them in America or Americans. They freely admit they hoarded them, or else spent them overseas where they don't have to pay Americans the wages they need to survive.
This is what you're voting for when you pull the lever for Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst, Tom Cotton, Scott Walker and every single Republican Senator or House member who dupes you into thinking you're voting for someone who cares about your interests. You're not voting against the "black man" or the "brown man." You're not voting against the "welfare mom" or the "unemployed." In case you haven't noticed, those folks have already been stripped to the bone and are barely managing to survive.
You're not voting against them. You're voting against yourselves.
The corporations and their dark money don't give a damn about you, your future, your children, or your lives. You're just useful idiots to them.
Just thought you'd want to know that.