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Monday, April 07, 2008
Corporate Democrats get more corporate dough than Republicans
Posted by Justin Jeffre
They say, “He who pays the piper calls the tune”. The Wall Street Journal reports that Big business is bypassing McCain. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that of the 7 major industries that reliably support Republicans, all have given more to Clinton and Obama, except for 1. And even that 1 is a close call. The defense industry and the health industry have given much more to the Democrats.
The for profit, pie or die (w)health care industry is quite comfortable with the corporate Democrats health care plans because they keep the money flowing into their pockets. Despite facts like 18,000 people die every year from a lack of health insurance (that’s six 9/11’s every year), a majority of Americans want a universal single-payer system and most US doctors do too, the corporate parties continue to deny us a better system and choose to serve big business instead.
Though Democratic presidential candidates publicly use rhetoric about opposing NAFTA and the war, the truth is they will continue both of these policies. The Democratic Party continues its move to the right becoming more like the Republicans every day.
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07 Apr 2008 at 08:07 pm | #
Sadly no one has been able to come up with a solution that eliminates corporate dollars from our political scene that avoids the Money = Free Speech situation.
Maybe we have to go as far as to say a Corporation is not a Person.
Expect 4 more years of Demopublicans & Republicrats.
07 Apr 2008 at 09:03 pm | #
In France they gave each of their 12 presidential candidates a half hour of free air time. Some other countries also have publicly funded elections.
08 Apr 2008 at 01:19 pm | #
funnelcake, I think you make an important point. Corporations are fictitious entities and should not be recognized as people. Money isn’t free speech, its influence. The undue influence of big money is certainly a corrupting force. Corporations shouldn’t have such a great influence on our government because the corporate interest isn’t the same as the public interest.
Despite what some people may think, I am not anti-business. I just think government is supposed to be of, for and by the people. Other industrialized countries generally have higher participation rates, multiple parties and more meaningful elections.
In this country we are told we must choose between two parties that are both now owned by corporations. Only billionaires like Ross Perot can afford to buy the kind of airtime that would make him considered viable by the corporate media. Perot got 20 million votes (19% of the vote) in 1992 and then the Democrats and Republicans were able to exclude him from the presidential debates in 1996 which they now control.
A candidate can travel to every major city in every single state speaking to people and still only reach a fraction of the audience that will see the presidential debates. The Repulicrats are too afraid to debate independents.
Fox news excluded Ron Paul from a debate and MSNBC excluded Dennis Kucinich from another based on arbitrary criteria. Why should corporations decide who’s a candidate or not. Think of all the free media that is given to corporate candidates because they aren’t questioning corporate power which has grown out of control. The Republicrats wouldn’t maintain their power if they didn’t rig the playing field. We have the highest ballot access barriers of any so called democracy and at a billion dollars a pop, it’s still the best democracy money can buy.
09 Apr 2008 at 02:32 pm | #
I can’t speak to the Faux News debate, but MSNBC’s criteria were hardly arbitrary. The debate was held in Iowa, the focus was the Iowa Caucuses, and they said the candidates had to actually be competing to win. I can’t remember all the criteria, but the two that got Kucinich the boot were the requirements to have a staff and an office in the state. They didn’t stipulate the size of either. Kucinich raised a couple million dollars for his campaign, and Iowa rent is cheap. Are you really saying MSNBC conspired to keep him from spending a couple grand a month on the salary for a field organizer and a storefront? We’re not talking a lot. Field organizers on the presidential campaigns are making about $2500 a month. Dennis really couldn’t pony up that and maybe a grand for a storefront somewhere in East Jesus, IA? The man quite simply was not actually running for president. His only goal was to be in the debates and be on tv. That’s simply not good enough, and MSNBC was fair in their criteria.
16 Apr 2008 at 08:25 am | #
I love how Jason and Justin stop commenting when confronted with facts.
05 Jul 2008 at 11:30 am | #
Kutizen, I didn’t see your comment before (sorry), but what makes you think that corporate media outlets should decide the criteria for deciding who to cover in elections?
In response to your question I don’t think that MSNBC’s parent company really wants articulate anti-war voices on the air, that’s why they fired Phil Donahue despite the fact that he had the highest rated program on their network.
Donahue and other media reform advocates have talked about the need to have open debates. As John Nichols from the Nation says, in France they have lots of candidates and they each get free airtime. If they can do it, the US can do it too.
MSNBC’s criteria was arbitrary and complete BS. So was FOX news criteria for excluding Ron Paul. The majority of Americans are opposed to the war yet anti-war candidates are always excluded. That is a fact.