For those people who make between minimum wage and $1 million per year, you probably already know that your voice in most elections is minimized by the approximately 110 million unemployed and not in workforce, 60 million retirees and disabled, 23 million (total) government employees, 4 million federal employees, 541 members of congress with staff of 12,000 or more; 20,000 lobbyists, a national debt of $19 trillion and budget deficit of $447 billion.
We are simply blades of grass in the political turf wars. And the three branches of federal government; Executive, Legislative and Judicial are morally, operationally, legally and politically incompatible; all wanting more of our money.
Sure your vote counts, but what influenced you to vote for a candidate? It may be that a candidate spent countless hours in an airplane seat; that’s not achievement. Candidates that offer ‘free stuff’ are hoping to purloin money from workers and redistribute it for questionable purposes.
Unions, corporations, billionaires and PAC’s (Political Action Committees) are contributing bales of currency that were formerly union dues, profits and private donations; giving it to PACs. These billions of dollars are not altruistic in nature but influential in intent and purpose.
Here are a couple examples: Why would the University of California donate $1.8 million and Harvard University donate $1 million to Mr. Obama in 2008? We ‘re not sure but the Student Loan Act of 2010 permitted the federal government to take our tax payments to pay college expenses for someone else’s high school graduates, many of whom had no affinity for college knowledge.
Twenty one ‘Super PAC’S that supported 13 candidates recently filed financial reports with the FEC (Federal Election Commission); among donors were 29 individuals or organizations that contributed $1 million or more each.
In addition to the approximately $100 million raised by the Super PACs, another $160 million was raised by 13 campaign committees. The biggest donor among Super PACs was George Soros who contributed $6 million to the Clinton campaign. To offset Soros’ $6 million would require 120,000 donors to Bernie Sanders’ campaign if each forwarded a check for $50. We’ll find out on Election Day, November 8, 2016 whether Mr. Soros squandered his money or made a wise investment at the altar of Political Power and Persuasion.
Based on data released by the IRS in November 2015, among the top 50 political donor organizations in the 2013-2014 election cycle, 17 unions gave more than $170 million of which less than 2% went to conservative candidates and 98% to liberals. Fahr, LLC of San Francisco led by Tom Steyer, contributed more than $75 million to help Mr. Obama halt the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In the end game will your vote count?
Of course it will but consider the best person for the job of leader of the free world then vote for that person. History shows that only 37% to 63% of eligible voters participate in federal elections. These are the people that have unwittingly misplaced their confidence in the voting ‘lottery’ by allowing the powerful to control our lives.
Then there are those who vote for ‘time spent’ by candidates rather than ‘objectives accomplished’ creating a continuum of waste and largesse in the form of corporate, agricultural, individual and international welfare squandering.
Our great nation was created to be led by the most sincere and honorable public servants that would step up and share their wholesome thoughts and actions for the common good. But as bureaucracies become bloated, they also become inefficient and biased. The result is that our nation is being chaperoned by corrupt officials and millions of sycophants who have an innate hankering for money and power. In our present system, many of our votes allow inept unqualified leaders to gain power while the people’s clout succumbs to increased regulation and control, higher taxes, more restrictive services and limited independence rather than unequivocal freedom of opportunity.
Vote with enthusiasm, but don’t drop your vote in the ballot box for anyone who promises free ‘everything,’ prosperity over recession or freedom from oppression by oration. Vote for the person who has shown clear achievement of worthy goals by past actions. Words can be whimsical, action is traction.
Dick Baynton