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Ongoing US GOP Debacle Thread: Seditious Republicans march toward authoritarianism

There is definitely some truth to this tweet.


 
I have an old acquaintance from college I talk to from time to time who works as an aide and has for several years to various GOP pols...he’s basically told me the same thing. In public he trumpets whatever the party line is, but when we speak privately it’s not even remotely close to the same rhetoric. It’s infuriating.
 
And the rubes buy every word.

This is one area where we’ve gone so wrong. Politics is a game to some and a livelihood to others. Neither is good for the actual business of maintaining a nation.
 
Not even top 15% for the House.
 
It is crazy how far you have to go down the list before you find a non-millionaire.

Top Net Worth 2015

Who can afford to take off work for a year to campaign full-time? And that's before you get into funding the campaign.

Obviously a both party issue. I talked with a friend over the weekend who was annoyed because she had received an attack ad mailer aimed at a fellow Dem candidate. The ad came from the county party-backed candidate, who received the endorsement in part because he is wealthy and said he'd put his own money into his campaign.

And I can understand why they'd do that, it will be expensive to take down an incumbent in the fall. But it still sucks, and it shouldn't be that way.
 
avalon said:
It is crazy how far you have to go down the list before you find a non-millionaire.

Top Net Worth 2015

Who can afford to take off work for a year to campaign full-time? And that's before you get into funding the campaign.

Obviously a both party issue. I talked with a friend over the weekend who was annoyed because she had received an attack ad mailer aimed at a fellow Dem candidate. The ad came from the county party-backed candidate, who received the endorsement in part because he is wealthy and said he'd put his own money into his campaign.

And I can understand why they'd do that, it will be expensive to take down an incumbent in the fall. But it still sucks, and it shouldn't be that way.
Click to expand...

Running for office is simply out of reach for the vast majority of Americans, at least at the state and federal levels. The average cost of a US Senate campaign is over $10 million (and often considerably higher in larger states), for a governor's race it's often $20 million or more, and even for a House seat it's around $2 million. Even some local races for state legislatures in larger states now cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Somebody like a Harry Truman or Abraham Lincoln would probably never be in politics today, because they couldn't afford to run. Truman was able to run for offices because he had the support of the Kansas City political machine, which paid most of his campaign bills. It was also a notoriously corrupt organization, although it did make Truman a county judge and then US Senator. Politics has always been a costly proposition, but over the last forty or so years the price of running for office is simply beyond the financial ability of most people, even in the upper middle class.
 
Along with needing money to run for office, there are two other factors that explain the wealth of our politicians.

Many Americans believe wealth is a sign of virtue and politicians enrich themselves through elected offices.
 
PhDeac said:
Along with needing money to run for office, there are two other factors that explain the wealth of our politicians.

Many Americans believe wealth is a sign of virtue and politicians enrich themselves through elected offices.
Click to expand...

Able-bodied and minded poverty is a sign of laziness. It's science.
 
585 David Valadao (R-Calif) -$44,798,997

Seems like there is a story here.
 
Well, he promised to slash taxes and then slash social spending to balance the budget and rid us of those horrible deficits. I guess 1 out of 3 ain't bad.
 
Paul Ryan: Mission accomplished.

Seriously, what the hell has the dude done? I assume he would claim tax cuts. Remember his detailed budgets in the run up to him being the VP candidate? He was focused on reducing the deficit, etc. Then passes the tax cuts that dramatically increased the deficit. Guy is a total effing fraud.
 
MichDeac25 said:
Paul Ryan: Mission accomplished.

Seriously, what the hell has the dude done? I assume he would claim tax cuts. Remember his detailed budgets in the run up to him being the VP candidate? He was focused on reducing the deficit, etc. Then passes the tax cuts that dramatically increased the deficit. Guy is a total effing fraud.
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Doesn’t matter, got paid.
 
Just read that Ryan raised $54,000,000 for Pub house races this year which apparently is fairly unprecedented for a Speaker. Not sure if the crazies who want to replace him, especially Mark Meadows, have anything like that kind of pull in traditional Pub donor circles.
 
Ryan sees the writing on the wall. He doesn't believe 'pubs will hold the house. He has no desire to enter into the fray to be minority leader (a vote he would most likely lose). He has no desire to be relegated to being the ranking member on some committee, so away he goes.

He hopes a) he canmake a boatload of cash grifting for the next several years; b) President Trump loses in 2020; and c) he can be a candidate in 2024.
 
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