It’s so shameful what greed and broken electoral finance laws in the U.S. have done to the country. Right now, an investment of a few million by a PAC can turn into billions of dollars from the government, via direct aid, passing laws, or simply looking the other way if a company isn’t being too obviously evil.

The primaries this year were highly telling in that regard - politicians were being nakedly bought in plain sight, but, again, because “you don’t fuck with the money” it’s not a question in political circles of whether overhauling campaign finance should be undertaken.

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Yeah. The silver lining is that, for specific issues, eventually the dam bursts and public opinion can overwhelm. But it can take a long time.

Ross Perot was the most successful third party candidate in American history since William Jennings Bryan. And yet, for nearly two decades both parties refused to adopt his policies on trade despite their overwhelming popularity and the obvious benefit electorally.

BTW The bigger issue with campaign finance is our radical right activist supreme court. We used to have a lot of laws limiting what money could do in politics but the court has dismantled most of them.