Calling A Spade A Spade

Perhaps I'm way behind the curve on this but it finally occurred to me why there were so many Republican candidates for president this cycle compared to the mere handful of Democratic hopefuls. I originally thought it was sort of a flocking behavior, like birds or fish, that use vast numbers to confuse predators, like the press.

Nope. It's money.

Specifically, the torrent of filthy corporate lucre that gushed like a tsunami over any and every willing participant with a pulse and an "R" after their name. All as a result of good old Citizens United.

Seriously. The "Right To Rise" PAC (Now known as "Right to Die") fronted Jeb Bush with a $120 million bucks, and the only way he could have used that money to win the presidency was to purchase the service of ninjas to reduce the competition.

The latest numbers I can find on the subject, from way back in October of 2015, shows that GOP candidates have been gifted with over $300 million in PAC funds. Bernie Sanders does not have a PAC but Hillary's campaign has received about $50 million.

$300 million versus $50 million. Again, that's five months ago. That's a lot of money betting against Hillary and very little of it came from the piggy banks or sock drawers of the 97%.

As an example of just how bad this situation is in New Hampshire, in 2012, only $2 million had been spent cumulatively among every campaign. In 2016 that number increased to $100 million. Billions will be spent in the next year.

Is there a better way? Hell, yeah! Both France and Great Britain limit campaigning to only a few weeks before elections, and they have their equivalent of the First Amendment, too.

We've become a country that is now embroiled in two kinds of endless wars: one against 'terrorism' and one for the reins of leadership. And the monied few who back the candidates are the very same who benefit most from war. That is not a coincidence.

Go Bernie.

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BTW, in case you hadn't heard them multi-zillionaire Koch boys are dumping almost a billion dollars into the presidential campaign... and none of it is aimed at blue coffers. For a list of where the money is to spent check this out.

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Just a coincidence, right?



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Mea Culpa: I altered one of the lines in this cartoon some time after it was posted. The little elephant used to say "He's a goldang nigger". From an emotional standpoint that's what I feel the GOP says to itself when referring to Mr. Obama but I decided to alter the line to make it more relevant and absurd more than just purely visceral.

=Lefty=