The Kochs can only win if we don’t get out our base. God, it drives me crazy that Dems so consistently equate money with winning. It’s just not true, and I wonder if it isn’t just an excuse for more lazy, automatic-pilot campaigning:
When news broke Monday that conservative billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch (pictured) planned to spend almost $1 billion in the 2016 campaign cycle, Democrats fretted. Not only would that hefty sum be spent against them, but there’s no comparable billionaire on the left, Democrats noted to TPM, to counter that.
The new funding means that even in a cycle more favorable to Democrats than the last, they will face extreme fundraising pressures. The significance goes beyond just the amount of money the Kochs are spending, said Rick Hasen, an election law expert at University of California at Irvine.
“They also have a ground operation and can rival political parties in what they can do, both in influencing the [Republican] primary and in get out the vote and registration efforts in the general election,” Hasen wrote in an email to TPM.
The Kochs’ plan to spend $889 million through their network of 17 allied groups in the 2016 cycle would more than double the $407 million they spent in 2012. By comparison, the Republican National Committee and its Senate and House counterparts spent a total of $657 million in 2012.
“That amount of money can create all kinds of things,” said Nick Rathod, a former staffer in the Obama White House’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and founder of the State Innovation Exchange, which aims to be a liberal alternative to the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. Through their network of organizations, the Kochs can shape “an issue environment” and frame debates around issues they want to focus on.
Rathod said “to have a billion dollars to spend on any kind of debate or frame around issues I think is very scary because you can just drown out any other voice.”
The problem is hard to remedy for Democrats. The spending advantage among the wealthiest Americans is with Republicans.
“There’s nothing on our side that can come close to matching that,” Rathod said, adding that even though people cite George Soros or other wealthy Democratic donors “we don’t have anything like that.”
Clearly the Koch’s equate money with winning or they wouldn’t be spending $889 million dollars on the next election.
The oligarchy (1%) already controls the economic system (Capitalist) in this country. They control 69 of the 99 state legislatures, and many of our federal representatives and senators. Which means that they will soon control the political process as well. That’s the whole enchilada folks.
And you and I can’t do a damn thing about it even if we do vote.
So what is our recourse? Delegitimize the entire system. Do not vote. Tell your friends and relatives not to vote. Knock on your neighbors doors and tell them not to vote.
If nobody shows up to vote then maybe we can save ourselves from what the oligarchy has in store for us.
Well, let’s see. No money. What could possibly compensate for that? An interesting platform? One that people could see they have a stake in? Medicare for all, transferring the country to sustainable renewable energy, college tuition assistance. A Federal minimum living wage.
Nah. Nobody would be interested in any of that. Not compared to Swift Boat ads and lots of triumphal US flags.