It's Over - For Now

The election cycle is over here in Florida.  Most people think of us as an east coast state, but Florida extends into the central time zone, so our polls close at 8PM eastern. I'm seeing folks winning that I wanted to see win and folks being defeated that I hoped would go down.  (I honestly considered moving to Orlando just to vote against Allan Grayson). 

The really good part is that the slimy ads are gone for now.  Thank God!

But there's something bothering me about this: why are there political ads on TV?  Does anybody really decide their choice for governor or senator or even dog-catcher based on a TV commercial?  I mean, you wouldn't buy a car or any other major purchase without getting independent reviewers' opinions, would you?  If it was a really big purchase, would you buy a Ford because they tell you their car is better than a Chevy, or because a stack of reviewers, test drivers, friends and relatives tell you?

If you wouldn't buy a car based on a couple of TV ads, why would you give someone the power of life and death over you based on TV ads?

Does anyone ever get convinced to vote for someone by posters alongside the road?  Does anyone see the "Melvin Frohike for Congress" on the way to work and decide to go vote for them?  How shallow would you have to be to think that way?  The old saying is, "money is the lifeblood of politics", but have they really thought about what they're buying?  They're raising vast quantities of money to spend on campaigns and yet it looks to me like the expenditures are largely stupid.  Who's paying for all this, anyway? 

It turns out, not surprisingly, you are.  Rachel Alexander on Townhall.com reports that over the last 20 years, two of the three biggest contributors to politics have been unions.  Not just any unions, SEIU and AFSCME, unions of public employees. 

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) spent $87.5 million this year to help Democrats. AFSCME is ranked as the third biggest contributor to campaigns cumulatively over the past 20 years, with 98% of its money going to Democrats.

She goes on to list the biggest contributors:

SEIU spent more money than any other organization over the past 20 years on independent expenditures, $69 million. The National Rifle Association came in second, spending $56 million over the past 20 years. AFSCME came in third, spending $52 million. The next biggest spenders in the top 50 were the AFL-CIO with $39 million, the National Association of Realtors with $33 million, and the National Education Association with $30 million. Other far left groups in the top 50 include EMILY’s List, Human Rights Campaign, and the American Association for Justice.

Ignoring the NRA, the other 2/3 of the top three, the SEIU and AFSCME unions are robbing you twice.  Fed.gov workers get higher pay and better benefits than private sector workers, which the private sector pays for, and then we pay for their contributions to Democrats to keep on giving them higher pay and benefits than we get. 


I can hear lefties saying the NRA is a right wing organization, so don't mess with the unions.  If you're a member of the gun culture, though, you're painfully aware that the NRA does not endorse only "right wing" candidates.  My take is that NRA are "inside the beltway players"; they give money to the people who they think are most likely to win, and people they think they can deal with. 


My guess: all of the people who do this for a living really think the money doesn't do much, but they're too scared to not spend lots.  If they spend lots of money and lose, everyone will say, "you can't win 'em all!"; if they have money left over but still lose, they'll never work in a campaign again.