An article in Forbes, highlighted today by Politico http://onforb.es/zjYrNj, reveals the lengths
that some affluent donors are willing to go to support candidates aligned with their interests. It reported that Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire gambling and hotel magnate, was considering donating $100 million to Newt Gingrich or another Republican to defeat Obama and four more years of a “socialist-style economy.”
Of course, Adelson cannot legally give more than $2500 directly to Gingrich or any other candidate’s campaign, so this donation would have to be done through a Super PAC. Adelson and his wife have already donated $10 million to Gingrich’s Super PAC, Winning Our Future. Given his estimated wealth of about $25 billion, Adelson’s offer to possibly donate $100 million is certainly credible, as it represents only a tiny portion of his fortune.
This further reinforces the travesty that the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court has made of the democratic process in America. Extremely affluent Americans can buy all the media time they want to deliver messages to influence the choices citizens make in various elections. The average Joe can only listen to these political broadcasts that dominate the airways, absorbing biased information that cannot be rebutted adequately by the other side.
Is this what the Founding Fathers envisioned for our democracy? Is this what the First Amendment was supposed to guarantee?
Resurrecting Democracy
A VietNam vet and a Columbia history major who became a medical doctor, Bob Levine has watched the evolution of American politics over the past 40 years with increasing alarm. He knows he’s not alone. Partisan grid-lock, massive cash contributions and even more massive expenditures on lobbyists have undermined real democracy, and there is more than just a whiff of corruption emanating from Washington. If the nation is to overcome lockstep partisanship, restore growth to the economy and bring its debt under control, Levine argues that it will require a strong centrist third party to bring about the necessary reforms. Levine’s previous book, Shock Therapy For the American Health Care System took a realist approach to health care from a physician’s informed point of view; Resurrecting Democracy takes a similar pragmatic approach, putting aside ideology and taking a hard look at facts on the ground. In his latest book, Levine shines a light that cuts through the miasma of party propaganda and reactionary thinking, and reveals a new path for American politics. This post is cross posted from his blog.
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020