February 21, 2012 /

Democracy Is Dead, Long Live The Auction!

The Mayans could very well be wrong that 2012 will be the end of the world, but one thing that has failed to exist this year is our democracy. Instead it is being transformed into an auction, going to the highest bidder. Leading this race to extinction is casino mogul Sheldon Adelson: Sheldon Adelson plays […]

The Mayans could very well be wrong that 2012 will be the end of the world, but one thing that has failed to exist this year is our democracy. Instead it is being transformed into an auction, going to the highest bidder. Leading this race to extinction is casino mogul Sheldon Adelson:

Sheldon Adelson plays as stubbornly in politics as he does in business. So the criticisms that he’s trying to personally buy the presidential election for Newt Gingrich are met with a roll of the eyes. “Those people are either jealous or professional critics,” Adelson tells me during his first interview since he and his wife began funneling $11 million, with another $10 million injection widely expected, into the former speaker’s super PAC, Winning Our Future. “They like to trash other people. It’s unfair that I’ve been treated unfair—but it doesn’t stop me. I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich.”

Adelson, the 78-year-old CEO of casino giant Las Vegas Sands, certainly can afford to: With a net worth of roughly $25 billion, that $11 million, which jolted Gingrich’s flatlining presidential bid back to life, equates to 0.044% of his fortune. For someone with a $1 million net worth, the equivalent would be $440, or a two-night stay at Adelson’s Venetian casino. Adelson could personally fund an entire presidential campaign—say, $1 billion or so—and not even notice.

Adelson has been pumping millions in the failed Gingrich campaign this cycle and now he’s willing to take off the gloves and go all in with up to $100 million. But why is he doing this? Well we have the right wing boogieman showing his head again:

Is that fair? “I’m against very wealthy ­people attempting to or influencing elections,” he shrugs. “But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it. Because I know that guys like Soros have been doing it for years, if not decades. And they stay below the radar by creating a network of corporations to funnel their money. I have my own philosophy and I’m not ashamed of it. I gave the money because there is no other legal way to do it. I don’t want to go through ten different corporations to hide my name. I’m proud of what I do and I’m not looking to escape recognition.”

That’s right, it’s all George Soros’ fault. Even if their claims against Soros are true, the right has done the exact same thing in the past. Just look at how much money the Koch brothers have funneled into politics over the years the same way.

But the thing is Soros isn’t as guilty as they claim. For years the right accused Media Matters of being funded by Soros. It wasn’t until Soros got so tired of being accused of it that he finally gave Media Matters a million dollars. After he did that the right engaged in instant whining.

Of course all of this is leading the death march of our democracy. Money influences politics and with Presidential elections dipping into the billion dollar mark, that influence is becoming way to powerful. If anyone cares about our democracy and the future of our nation then they must realize needs to be stopped now. About the only way to do that is to pass laws banning all money from elections and make them 100% publicly funded. But sadly we won’t see that happen until we get rid of the professional whores that already bought for in Washington. So maybe there is hope. Maybe the people will finally get tired of watching our country get ripped about by our leaders on both sides and will finally rise up to push them out. It’s what our founding fathers did and it’s what we need to do!

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