The "Campaign Cash Dash" of Biden/Harris
Seeing the True Face of U.S. Politics
At NBC News is a straightforward story, presented in a gushingly positive way, of the “campaign cash dash” of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It’s all about Biden and Harris “hitting the trail—and donors’ wallets”—for money. It’s presented as perfectly normal, almost as laudable, an admirable example of democracy at work in America. Biden and Harris need money—what better way to get it than to beg for it from big donors, who of course want nothing in return for their “contributions,” better known as bribes.
I realize I’m stating the obvious here. The U.S. political system is throughly corrupted. What amazes me is how it’s presented in the mainstream media not only as normal but as desirable, even commendable. Here I recall watching a documentary that explained that the first duty of a newly elected member of Congress is fundraising for the next election cycle. Very quickly, you realize the donors are largely running the show, buying access and bribing officials to make or change policy as the donors see fit.
Again, this is hardly a shock; I suppose I just remain somewhat amazed how this is reported in almost gushing terms by outlets like NBC News.
A necessary part of the solution to restoring the republic is getting big money out of politics, which the Supreme Court made even more difficult to achieve with its Citizens United decision. Where corporations are citizens and money is speech, you necessarily have an oligarchy or a plutocracy. And that’s what America is.
Anyhow, here are a few excerpts from the NBC News article:
President Joe Biden is raising money again.
The commander in chief plans to accelerate his campaign cash dash after the White House paused overt political activity during debt-limit negotiations with Congress … Biden will be hitting the hustings — and donors' wallets — harder over the next couple of weeks … The Biden re-election calendar has 20 fundraisers planned in the last half of June, most of which will be headlined by Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris …
The still-skeletal Biden campaign apparatus has a joint fundraising agreement with the DNC and all of the state parties that are allowed to tap donors for more than the $3,300 contribution limit that governs the president's principal campaign committee.
On June 26, for example, top donors will be asked to pay $100,000 to sponsor the Harris-headlined DNC LGBTQ gala on Park Avenue in New York — a price that brings with it two "platinum" tables, passes to a VIP reception and an invitation to the photo line. A single seat at the dinner costs $1,500, and there are several giving thresholds between the top and bottom levels that are accompanied by various levels of access.
The ramp up is certain to haul in millions of dollars to support Biden and fellow Democrats, but it may not entirely put to bed the concerns of allies who worry that the debt-limit freeze on political events caused harm and that too much emphasis has been put on filling the DNC's coffers … [O]ne longtime Democratic donor said he was "surprised" Biden has not put together a finance committee of heavyweight money-bundlers.
This donor pointed out that contributors can give hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC and its state affiliates while just $3,300 per donor per election — primary and general — can go to Biden under federal campaign finance limits. That is, big-dollar joint fundraising events benefiting the DNC and Biden's campaign are orders of magnitude more lucrative for the party than the candidate.
As an aside, I’m not sure why Biden is identified as “the commander in chief.” There’s no military content to this article. “Beggar in chief” is far more accurate here. Also, I just love the way the mainstream media suggests this is like a sport, a "cash dash," and to the victors go the spoils. Which, I suppose, is true.
It’s nice to know the DNC will profit greatly from those fundraising efforts. Small wonder the DNC still supports the Biden/Harris gravy train. Of course, there’s no suggestion in this NBC article that there’s anything wrong with this process. Indeed, Biden is being criticized for his laxness in not putting together “a finance committee of heavyweight money-bundlers.” C’mon, Joe. Show us the money!
Well, dear reader, it’s time for me to take my $100K to Park Avenue in New York. Look for me in the photo line with Kamala Harris.
"Campaign Cash Dash": I just love the way the mainstream media suggests this is like a sport, a "cash dash," and to the victors go the spoils. Which, I suppose, is true.
As you note, the corruption is so normalized that the 'reporter' and 'news' outlet can be almost giddy as they seem to join the calls from the sidelines for the President to more aggressively grovel and for even more of the corrupting cash. That is the value system reflected in perhaps all of the Main Stream Media these days. Money talks- both in electoral and policy politics. It is all that matters. The Public Interest doesn't matter, and representative democracy just a fiction; a dream for some but an unacceptable inconvenience to the plutocrats. Nothing much will change until a much broader public finally wakes up to the fact that it is unacceptably dystopian and counter to every value and vision they might hold.
To get there, a large number are going to have to give up their shackles and delusions about the moral superiority of their partisan camp.
And they might start by paying a lot less attention to what the corporate media are spoon-feeding them and a lot more attention to the more deeply human journalists and philosophers have been, and are still, trying to tell them.