Quote:
Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack
And, as it is plainly known by most, politicians are often bought and sold like cattle.
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A misconception. Just as those with money will attempt to buy influence, those with influence will attempt to attract money. Every competing politician has his or her backers. Money is easy enough to come by that frontrunners and incumbents get to pick and choose whose money they accept. This means that more often than not, they accept the money on their own terms and do with it as they please. They are not simply paid for and installed as puppets of the Military Industrial complex, the Illuminati, or whichever power people suppose
really governs things behind the scenes.
Not to place too much control in the hands of the politicians. Essentially, what exists is a symbiotic relationship. For example, politician intent on increasing the oil revenue of his or her state as a means of lowering the tax burden of their constituency is predisposed to accepting campaign contributions from Shell or Exxon. Executives for oil companies are inclined to make contributions to political campaigns are predisposed to giving to politicians who will champion legislation that will improve their overall revenue.
The relationship most politicians have with their biggest supporters is predicated on a "win-win" scenario; both sides want to find people who will work in their best interest. Establishing the existence of a common philosophy is essential to producing a winning campaign, and a winning campaign is a sound investment for the savvy investor...er....campaign contributor.
Our political system is not just two competing parties fighting it out under the umbrella of a monolithic bureaucracy; it is a tangle of competing factions, some gaining in power as others fall, some disappearing as others come into being. Each faction has its champions and its financial support structure, all with shifting, even competing loyalties. To say that one critical element of this machine is little more than a powerless commodity is to ignore the complexity of system, both historic and modern.
- Heretic