The unified theory of money in politics

Where to even begin? The only unified piece of the puzzle seems to be putting the money into the right pockets. If Thorstein Veblen is right, money is just a method of keeping score for the leisure class, then separating fools from their money and concentrating it into the right bonuses and contracts really is the unified theory. "The people" in this theory, are only sheep to be shorn of any disposable income that can be extracted. Fear and playing to the particular self-righteousness of conservative sheep will always ensure that the faithful dutifully vote for their betters. Therefore, money in politics is simply business by other means. Or more applicably, speculative and extractive capitalism with the side effect of power.



So it was really no surprise to see an article in Motherjones point out both the speculative and extractive sides of the game playing out in the teaparty patriots. To really understand how this game is played we need to examine how the donations of true believers were repatriated to their rightful owners and how the leaders, who started as volunteers, got a taste for the lucre themselves.

"To underscore the group's clout [role in successfully primarying Richard Lugar in Indiana] (and push back against chatter about the movement's slow demise), TPP cofounder Jenny Beth Martin revealed to an interviewer that her organization's most recent IRS filing shows that TPP had raised more than $12 million. This impressive figure wasn't exactly proof of TPP's role in dispatching Lugar, but Martin's disclosure did raise a question: Where did all that money go?" [emphasis mine]

Examining an astro-turf organization of the latest psuedo-populist conservative uprising (that just happens to exactly mirror the unsavory values of wall street and big business) seems an appropriate first step. It is apparent from the fundraising techniques that the bulk of donations are coming from regular people, well regular as in people of limited means. An entire industry has sprung up to support special interest pressure groups such as the teabag patriots.

This industry of direct-mailers, telemarketers, event organizers, and so on is at least partially analysed and reviewed in The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation by Thomas Frank. The short history revolves around one Richard Viguerie who pioneered direct mail in the 1970s, at a time when American domination of the world was in doubt and many people were scared for decline. Viguerie started mailing scare letters to registered republicans detailing all the ways America was slipping, blamed it all on Democrats and liberals in Washington, and included a form to mail in a donation to help defeat all of these bad people. Frank laments that no one made a comprehensive collection of these paranoid documents because they would make an interesting history of this period in conservative America.

What all the hubbub was about, of course, was separating fools from their money by keeping them scared out of their wits. Direct mail proved to be a money-making machine and Frank even points out how similar the industry was and is to drug pushing. Mailing firms even provided an advance to startup pressure groups to get them going on fundraising, when the firm often charged more for the service than it actually raised, the group ended up in debt and had to continuously keep upping the fear ante to desperately try to break even. Telemarketing operated similarly. The fundraising firms justify their practices by equating the operation to what business and the political arm of business understands very well: Advertising. Creating a brand for whatever evil scheme the pressure group was selling. True believers operate therefore on a level of doublethink, believing their cause is so worthy that any measures to further it are justified and at the same time understanding the cynical nature of conservative entreprenuership. Most conservative activists hope to move up a rung in the scam machine once they have paid their dues doing grunt work.

TPP cofounder Jenny Beth Martin just skipped that promotion and cashed in at the very firm she helped start, swiping six figures in salary where she used to be a "volunteer." Top con artists extracted $758,000 for work they formerly did for free, along with $587,000 for travel expenses. All while brazenly ladling out millions to fundraising firms, lawyers, and others with their hands out. TPP is listed as a charity for tax purposes, certainly it is charitably giving to the "right" people. Only about a quarter of that dough went to training new agitators to demonstrate on behalf of wall street greed. I guess that is a good thing?

It is fitting that the IRS lumps fundraising and gaming together isn't it?

Stupid? Corrupt? Does it even matter? Just another day of stealing the kiddies lollipops.
All of these shady activities are, at their core, what conservative manipulators do to their own supporters. Before even beginning the analysis of what they do to the rest of us, I would recommend brushing up on Jim Hightower's Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country and It's Time to Take It Back. Or these two titles, they are a bit out of date but are still extremely relevent to the continuing con of American conservative business politics.

Gloominess on parade.

Seven Days out

Only a week to go before the big showdown, here is one of those things that make you go "hmm."
Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, Letter to the Editor, May 26,2012
Calling for polling an interesting task
I have been polling the people of southeast Wisconsin by phone for the past eight weeks regarding the effort to recall Walker, Kleefisch and Fitzgerald.
This is a very interesting and rewarding task. I talk to so many wonderful people. I also get to hear from a few of Wisconsin’s nastiest people, who will cuss, scream and yell and hang up on me.
During these calls I have learned of so many interesting election experiences that I could probably write a book about them. Here is one, in particular, that I feel must be shared with “we the people” of Wisconsin.
A woman I spoke with in Oconomowoc told me she knows a couple that lives in a beautiful house on the corner of a well-traveled street. This couple has never been particularly interested in politics, and the woman I spoke with said she didn’t even know if they were regular voters.
Well, one day this woman drove by their house and, to her great surprise, saw an enormous “stand with Walker” sign in their yard. Later in the day she ran into the homeowner and commented on the sign by saying she was surprised to see they were supporting Scott Walker.
The homeowner replied, “we don’t support Scott Walker.” The homeowner said that somebody came to their door and asked to “rent” a spot in their yard for the sign and gave them $100.
After hearing this I’m guessing that many of the big Walker and Fitzgerald signs we see are not really grassroots support, but simply a paid-for billboard. That seems sneaky to me.
Susan H. Finnel, Watertown

Link to newspaper: http://www.wiscnews.com/bdc/news/opinion/article_f13eef7e-a623-11e1-8653-001a4bcf887a.html

Sure, this is simply one anecdotal letter to the editor. But republicans have absolutely no problem using [manufactured] anecdotal evidence to smear Democrats. That story about someone passing out cigarettes at homeless shelters to encourage people to vote for John Kerry never seems to die, so why not throw one back in their faces?
Of course, a tactic like this would never work if neighbors were more... neighborly. The atomization of society is absolutely essential for [i'm with stupid]'s "divide and conquer" strategy. If we actually talked to each other more and found out the truth behind the facade, "renting" a spot on people's lawns would kind of backfire by revealing the dirty, underhanded nature of the cheesehead fascists.

Still, it is a little comforting to hear that maybe, just maybe, the money machine is spreading a tiny bit of their filthy lucre around. Times are tough and $100 could put groceries in the kitchen for a week if you are careful.

Barrett Triumphant in Gubernatorial Debate

How can you tell [i'm with stupid] is lying? You already know the answer.

It does not matter what [i'm with stupid] says, from the anecdotal (and possibly hypothetical) conversations with supposed Democrats kissing the dear leader's feet, to the mostly false miraculous jobs and deficit turnaround, the cheesehead fascists want to believe.

He looked like such an ass, up there lying his head off with that lazy-eyed smirk permanently etched onto his face. Did this debate make any difference to the estimated 4% of voters who will probably vote but are so low-information or lacking in conviction to make up their mind? Hopefully some of them will realize the contradiction between [i'm with stupid]'s assertions and their daily experience. I am not holding my breath though.

 Kind of like this. Someone definitely put alcohol in his blood surrogate.

For his part, Mayor Barrett said all the right things. Barrett turned all of [i'm with stupid]'s rock star hits, like "divide and conquer" and "drop the bomb" against him. Of course, Democratic and non-fascist voters already detested these phrases and knew exactly what they meant. Barrett also correctly characterized the governor's actions as "provoking an ideological civil war." He could have also mentioned all the documented cases of intimidation by [i'm with stupid]'s supporters. This most likely would have backfired though, as direct action against the "special interests" of working people are held as the height of courage by RWAFs. Especially stealing campaign yard signs in the middle of the night.

 Which one wishes he was sucking koch right now?

Mayor Barrett did his best to engage the bizzarro world constructed by the cheesehead fascists and their dear leader and challenge [i'm with stupid]'s insane assertions. It is just more evidence that these freaks live in a completely different world from the rest of us that [i'm with stupid] can still get away with claiming that "Democrat[ic] leaders in Washington" and "Big Labor Bosses" encouraged the grassroots uprising in Madison. His widely-publicized trips to do the dancing monkey routine for billionaires and huge percentage of out-of-state corporate and 1% money are just compartmentalized away by the true believers. So, Mayor Barrett was trying to debate, while [i'm with stupid] was an automaton, spouting canned answers and expending no effort on actually engaging in debate. It was pretty sickening.

Tom Barrett on the Ed Show

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tom

Wind and signs

I have spent most of my day driving around the hinterland of our beautiful state, enjoying the sunshine and watching tractors tilling the fields. Simple, salt of the Earth folks live out here. By that I mean easily deluded souls with low-information voting patterns.

The best part however, has been the wind. It has been scouring over the farmland with a vengeance. I can only assume that if more trees existed the gale would be diffused somewhat.

But, it has served to blow countless "I'm with stupid" signs down. I saw them hanging by one post, flapping in the breeze. I saw them lazily wending their way down the ditches and in the road. I saw them high in the air, presumably on their way to the UP, or maybe Canada.

Makes me just a little warm inside to see the gigantic, over sized support walker signs catching flight. Maybe if his ego hadn't prompted the need for the biggest signs around more of them would have survived. Ahh, a guy can dream.

Update:
More traveling today. There was another big-ass sign alleging "[i'm with stupid] works for all Wisconsinites: Not only the pampered few" or something close to that. Lame first of all, bizarro second. The "pampered few" is exactly who [i'm with stupid] works for, just not the hard-working public sector workers they mean in a sign like this. Third, it must be that [i'm with stupid] cannot take a decent picture because he looks like a drooling moron even on a sign supporting him.

Who will defend democracy?

From Alternet:

Today's GOP: Worst Political Party Since the Civil War
 The last time things got this bad was about 150 years ago -- and we needed a Civil War to resolve it.

Democracy is a weak thing, it needs to be continuously maintained and defended. I have been saying for months now that the reason republicans get away with the utter bullshit they have been pulling for much of my lifetime is that there is no king or other force powerful enough to make the kids play fair. That force is us, all of us. We are the guardians of a liberal, democratic society that can defend everyone's rights. Rachel Maddow can say that, in a nutshell, here's the thing about rights, they aren't supposed to be voted on, that is why they are rights. Many moons ago the conservative intellectual and poet Peter Viereck said something similar. Viereck said that the Bill of Rights was essentially a conservative and aristocratic document that elites could use to defend minorities from the tyranny of the majority. He put it much more eloquently than that but I am paraphrasing. The point is, simply writing something down does not guarantee it. The constitution was just a piece of paper to george w. bush, it is up to us to keep our rights and constrain the vile desires of imperialists like bushco.

I will let you read the article from Martin Longman on your own, it is really great. The problem with his subtitle is that the Civil War really didn't solve the core of the problem. Sure, it got rid of slavery, established the United States as a singular and as a powerful nation. But the attitude of might makes right did not disappear. I invite you to do some research of your own on the Civil War and its aftermath but will offer some generalizations from my own research. Southerners never let it go, they never felt defeat or shame or remorse for what they had done. The only resolution was that the South was largely marginalized for generations after the war. The attitude of righteous intransigence has never been extinguished, and unfortunately has spread to teabaggers and fundamentalists all over the country today. Anti-intellectualism, belief in their own superiority, viewing the federal government as an enemy or occupying force. This attitude has had such perseverance in our society, and it has now completely infected an entire political party.

There is no king, there is no Uncle Sam. He is us, and we must shout it loudly and truthfully that this bullshit will not stand. The intransigent attitude of selfishness must end. A million voices speaking the truth Longman has written, a million more writing of these truths can shrink the shameless intransigents back down to the same shrivelled size of their black hearts and cast them out into the wilderness again.

Nicked Armor?

From Politico:

'Orphan' state parties worry GOP

"National Republicans have begun to intervene in a handful of key Senate and House battlegrounds where state parties are in disarray, seeking to head off the possibility that local mismanagement could cost the party control of Congress."

It seems the grand money party has experienced more than a few takeovers by "outsider" hacks. True believers that freak out the moneymen. Or at least that is one factor as the GOTV operations and local campaigns move away from state parties. This leaves the professional political entrepreneurs looking for the green elsewhere, like the superpacs and other extreme corruptions of democracy.

This is a very welcome development for those of us who do not want to see the United States decline further. It could be a first step in isolating and quarantining the crazy that has taken over the money party. The "conservative" coalition has always been shaky, with groups of extremely conflicted ideas and priorities united under the banner of hating government for one reason or another.

This campaign season therefore will be an important test of people vs money. If conservative entrepreneurs leave the state party apparatus for glassy-eyed troglodytes to run, the loss of competence could create great opportunities for Democrats to win local races. Some of these state parties are in really bad shape, which just runs counter to the conventional wisdom that republicans always have more money than they know what to do with. I have a feeling that trying to feed money down to these orphans will be extremely inefficient for national republicans. [insert amused chuckle here]

How much can fox news and the other arms of conservative media replace the expensive GOTV operation? What will happen if glassy-eyed purists are more concerned with purging and infighting in local politics? If the competent, but evil, money-chasers are all seeking personal fortune elsewhere up the food chain, will the epsilon semi-morons of the base left in charge make the gop an even bigger laughing stock than it already is? Obviously, these problems are in big coastal blue states and interior states denuded of intelligence. In a swing state like Wisconsin, there are still opportunities for the lean and hungry types.

The vast wasteland I live in is covered in "I'm with stupid" signs, aka, stand with walker. Even though the true believers pride themselves in their self-reliance, those signs did not make themselves. The RNC has regurgitated ten million down to the director of koch industries Midwestern operations in the effort to get these authoritarian followers somewhat organized. The real money is in ALL THOSE GODDAMN TV ADS!

To generalize, competent, professionals will volunteer to phone bank and walk precincts for Democrats because they want to restore sanity to state government. However, competent republicans need big bucks for the same effort. The people who will volunteer for the gop are a freakshow of racists, rednecks, bullies, and fundamentalists. Not the kind who will persuade many people. So June 5th when the big showdown occurs will be very interesting to say the least.

That's my take on this story. Predicting the future is always hard, but the opportunities to discredit the psychos and put competent officials back in government (especially re-taking the House in November so they aren't able to hold us hostage anymore) are appearing and look good. Political parties as organizations have been declining for over half a century, this phenomenon is well-studied by historians. In this new age of money domination, grass-roots organizing combined with net-roots and social media may be able to reenergize parties as vehicles for reclaiming government from both conservative entrepreneurs leeching money from Democracy Inc. and the fundamentalist wackos trying to force everyone back to the dark ages.