Public Citizen has this up on a case before the U.S. Supreme court that could be as damaging as Citizens United, which made the inane ruling that corporations were people.

Good Grief, we already have the Kochs and Gates of the world whom are buying their kingdoms through crooks masquerading as politicians….and now we have another case of allowing mindboggling sums to campaigns:

In the case, the justices will consider whether to eliminate the limit on the total sum that people can give directly to candidates and political parties in a single election. The current overall limit for an individual making direct contributions to parties, political action committees (PACs) and federal candidates is $123,200 per two-year election cycle, but a win for the challengers in McCutcheon could allow total contributions above $7 million.

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A thought just popped in my mind–and this is in general, not just this lawsuit– what if we made it a rule that for every $7.50 (minimum wage) that a politician accepts in donations, they must work an hour in a soup kitchen/homeless shelter.   This would serve two purposes:  the politicians could no longer pretend they don’t know how bad things are for the poor, and they would see how low $7.50 an hour is…and perhaps raise it to $15.

Additionally, the politician would be less likely to accept the mega bucks in donations….they would think twice before allowing corporations to buy them.

Again, I’m wondering how far that money would go if given to more worthy causes–buying food for the hungry, putting up earthships, creating jobs, etc.

I posed that question towards my political science professor and he shrugged his shoulders and said “It’s really not that much…”

Tell that to someone who skips meals, has no home, no job.  Their perspective might be a little different….but they’re poor and don’t have a voice if campaign contributions are the gauge.

This just made me crack up laughing:

A relatively small number of people use contributions to maximize their leverage over elected officials.

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…not where I come from….the whole point of giving to campaigns is to wield influence over politicians.  I know of people who give to BOTH sides so they have an edge with whomever is elected.