Worry Not, Penniless Populists

The Supreme Court didn't mitigate Obama's shitty week with the 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. FEC or at least you can draw that conclusion from his reaction. Frankly, the Department of Justice shouldn't have taken it that far. Obama's DOJ took one for the team, though, the team of Democrats and Republicans that have been limiting speech (money) in politics for as long as they've had control of government (what are campaign finance laws written by the two parties if not to limit the rise of a third?). The poor progressives who haven't already jumped off a bridge, succumbed to catatonia or just tuned out are worried that the Republicans will somehow use corporate dollars to buy the Democrats out of their half of the franchise. C'mon, do you really think George Soros will let that happen? Or, the trial lawyers, or the unions, or even corporations? Obama raised over 1 Billion dollars in the last election cycle. Remember how he went without government matching funds in keeping with the ridiculous and, thankfully, now anachronistic McCain Feingold campaign finance law? He got a lot of that from small donors, yes, and large donors alike. Really, a billion fucking dollars last time around. Do you think he's sweating the next election for want of money? What he and Republicans all worry about is the possibility of money going to an independent or third party candidate that will fuck up the two=party franchise they've crafted for over a century.

If you still don't feel any better check out OpenSecrets.org, good people that keep track of such donations. Witness how the top donors are equally corporations and unions alike. This and sites just like it are now more important than ever. As before, we will want to know who our politicians are beholden to, won't we? If you don't like from whom a candidate has taken money you don't have to vote for that candidate. You don't have to give them your money, either. In fact, what's to keep the disaffected from pooling their money into a third party rich enough to pull along side and change the political discourse once and for all? Nothing, now.