Theme: What is your vote worth in dollars?
I wasn’t sure how to approach this topic, so I had to really
go out there. So, if you don’t want to
talk about Lobbyists, Lobbying or Political Action Committees, I
understand. Please catch me next week
when I discuss Boycotting-How It Works, Why It Fails © 2013 by Wayne Dan Lewis
Sr. on the Coveted Commandment Blog.
Why this Topic?
Most of the topics that I choose, I try to find a financial
or economic relationship, however slight.
The issue of lobbying, lobbyists and PACs are financially related to the
decisions that we make when it comes to voting.
Many of us, as I believe, are voting according to the messages that our
respective candidates are sending. And
on many occasions, we are confident that those messages that we receive, and
the resulting votes that get our candidates into office (from dog catcher, to
mayoral, to governor even to the President), are the messages that many will
carry them forward on our behalf. I would
like to believe that every candidate who accepts our votes, and who accepts the
office for which they are elected, are doing so, armed with the promises that
they made, and intend to keep. But I
would be very naïve if I believe that. Politicians,
based on my perception, aren’t necessarily bound to the promises that they
make. And worst yet, being held
accountable to those promises is not likely to happen anytime soon, especially
if we aren’t supporting them in way more than throwing a lever in the voting
booth. Why? Because our candidates, our representatives
are wise enough to throw us bones sufficient enough to get re-elected, but
insufficient enough to cost them their positions, for years to come. Why?
Follow the Money[2]
Many of us are acute voters. We can’t wait to vote for our
favored candidates. We vote with the
confidence that those for whom we vote, are working steadfastly to carry out
those matters and issues that are necessary to the salvation and longevity of
our various communities. But, on
occasion, we find that our representatives seem to have a mind of their
own. We sometimes sense that our
representatives may have an agenda aside
from the pre-election barn-stomping that they preached, and that maybe,
our representatives may have strayed from the promises that they made to
us. Why would that be? What could have happened that our
representatives could take a different route from what we ostensibly agreed to,
by voting for them?
It maybe, and this maybe a quantum leap for some of us, but
maybe, we didn’t pay up. What? “What do you mean-‘Pay Up’?” Now, this is purely speculation, and I am
sure many of our good representatives will be sending me emails, letters, and
threats upon my dusty hide, but as time has shown, nothing is ever achieved in
politics without someone getting some type of financial assistance, if you will
in order for things to get done. Even
electing our favorite politician doesn’t come cheap. For example, our favorite, or non-favorite
politician doesn’t continue to win over, and over, and over, and over again to
those political offices merely because of our love and appreciation. I am willing to speculate that hardly any
good-pardon me-great politician, worth their salt, needs some kind of financial
support in order to make it back to the “Big House”.
In other words, we need to dig deep into our pockets, or our
pocketbooks, piggybanks, between the sofa cushions, or into our sock drawers,
so that when we call on our elected leaders, we can point beyond the voting
booth. We should be able to point to our
contributions that help our leaders to get to where they are, and, that for our
contributions, the $1.50 that we give so bravely, and proudly, that we put into
their campaigns, we now believe that we should be able to get our streets
paved, the lights turned on, or at best, a park in our community. Of course, we should never suggest that this
is a bribe, or that we would withhold such contributions should our representative
fail to meet our expectations. But…. money is the key, and while it is
equivalent to saying that we don’t pay for elections, it’s time we stop sitting
on our hands, pretending that money, or any semblance thereof, does not
influence the way our elected officials work, whether we vote for them or not.
(.Officials feel free to respond)
Avoiding Political
Corruption [3]
How does it happen? Political
Corruption. It’s important that in this
post, nothing should be assumed to encourage a political leader to accept,
outside of the law, any contributions, or donations that do not meet campaign
finance laws[4]. So, with that said, what is an appropriate
amount of money to donate to political leader’s campaign where neither we, nor
they, are caught up in any corruption?
$10.00? $100? Or $1000? Consult
with your state’s Secretary of State office, or the Federal Elections
Commission, or an attorney. But whatever it is we donate, we have to be
sure that we are clear as to why, and what it is we expect for our
support. And whatever it is that we do
expect, does not lead to political misconduct, from the contribution, itself, to
the end result of the desired activity.
Corruption is the abuse of power for gain, such as
political or personal gain. Wealth, power and influence are all related, which
isn't necessarily a bad thing as people who grow rich are usually clever and in
most cases honest (we mostly only hear about the bad apples in the news). Those
who have achieved strong influence are by and large talented individuals who
are in the know about a certain area of expertise. And those who grow powerful
are generally competent individuals who can get things done. Of course there
are those lucky enough to be born into power or wealth, but unless these
individuals are particularly clever or talented in their own way, they more
often than not aren't put into great positions of authority. George W. Bush is
actually a smart individual, he made it to Yale and got an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5791306
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5791306
Can we buy a
commandment?
I thought we would discuss briefly about Political Campaign
donations, corruption and lobbying.
While it may not seem relative, it goes back to the Coveted
Commandment: Thou Shalt Build
Wealth. How? If you will go back to the beginning of this
blog and why it was first proposed, it asked the question about the 10th
commandment. The 10th
Commandment, as we all know, prohibits and/or forbids that we “covet”, or
desire strongly anything that is our neighbor’s. I try to write each week about something
current that I believe relates to the 10th commandment, as we know
it. The issue of campaign donations,
PAC’s and Lobbying goes right to the issue of the 10th commandment,
more specifically, the Coveted Commandment: Thou Shalt Build Wealth.
As we previously discussed, the idea of a commandment that
focuses more on “not coveting” or desiring the wealth of others, seems
preposterous. (If you haven’t read the first post, please feel free to review: Thou Shalt Build Wealth at the Coveted
Commandment Blog.[6] Maybe
preposterous is a little to strong. But
the idea of a commandment that forbids a natural desire to achieve is
suspect. From as far back as the Garden
of Eden, God has instilled in man the genetic benefit of desire, and
inspiration. So, to ask man to follow a
commandment by which we can be punished for trying to better ourselves is
unrealistic. It is that desire that the
10th commandment
(Exodus 20:17 )[7]
addresses, and seems to attempt to quell within us. It is that commandment, which prohibits us
from seeking a just footing, even in our political aspirations, that in the
absence of financial ability, we find ourselves seek political parity.
It is that commandment, the 10th commandment,
which when followed to the letter of the law, forces those of us with
inadequate, financial means, to rely only the vote, the pulling of the lever,
or the inking of the thumb, while others can put forth 100’s and 1000’s of
dollars to affect change in, of all places, the communities of the poor. Can we buy a commandment? Can we afford to buy a commandment? The answer depends on what our beliefs are,
and what it is we want. Can we buy a
commandment? It depends on who and what
it is we are competing against. It depends
upon whether we follow the 10th Commandment, or the Coveted
Commandment. If we only follow the 10th
Commandment, then we will never rise to the occasion where we focus on
supporting candidates beyond pulling the lever, if we even do that.
However, if we choose to follow the Coveted Commandment
(Thou Shalt Build Wealth), or any language that allows the poor, or the
disenfranchised to covet, to desire and acquire a better future for themselves
and their families, we can put together a very viable financial campaign
package that focuses on identifying candidates who will, without equivocation,
take seriously not only our votes, from our respective positions in our
communities, but literally work for our best interest. What does that mean?
Lobbyists and
PAC’s-What are they?
What is a lobbyist?- A ' lobbyist' is a person who tries to
influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a member of a lobby. [8] I pulled information from a website entitled
Lobbying 101 [9]. On the website, it discusses the following:
- What lobbying is;
- Who are lobbyists;
- How to hire a lobbyist
- How to work with a lobbyist,
- How
Lobbying became the biggest business in
And other important issues relating to lobbing. I’ll explain why these are important shortly,
but first let get an insight to Political Action Committees.
What is a Political Action Committee or (PAC)?[11] I found a website entitled Open Secrets.org. [12] It outlines what constitute a PAC and how
groups get together to elect or castigate a candidate. This obviously involves a tremendous amount
of money. So, what does this mean to the
average person who only pulls a lever for their candidate? It means that voting isn’t enough. It strongly suggests that if all we have been
doing is going to the voting booth and doing our civic duty, we are in for a
rude awakening.
Without the aid of Political Action Committees, our
candidate of choice maybe lucky if he or she gets past the general
election. After that, they are
horsemeat. The forces that come together
to beat our candidates, that we often see through rose-colored glasses, are
extremely determined. How do our
candidates stand after winning a primary?
Many of our candidates may feel comfortable with 1 or or 2 million dollars in their war chest,
providing of course, their counterparts have an equal amount of money to run
their campaigns. Good luck with that scenario.
How much are we
talking?
The Federal Elections Commission indicated that between January
2003 and June 2004, $629,000, 000 was raised by Political Action Committees,
$514,000,000 was spent and $205.1 million was contributed to Federal Candidates.[13] Here are examples of how much money we are
talking by contributors:
v
Pro-Obama Super-PAC raised $6,000,000 in June
for Attacks [15]
v
NRA Raises $1.1 million in January [16]
v
US Chamber of Commerce -$243,504, 680 [18]
v
AARP- $73,700,000 [20]
v
National Assn of Realtors- $80,750,000 [21]
The last four of the above list are reported to spent the
quoted amounts between 1998 and 2005 in affecting legislation and legislators
when it came to business, healthcare, the rights of the elderly and real
estate. [22] These monies, as collected, donated, or
fund-raised are done so by many of our American Citizens. In some cases, from around the world. As the supposed chronic voter that many of us
are content to be, we need to be sure that voting is not where we stop. We have to go further by looking at what our
representatives are working with, and working against. So, don’t look at it as buying a vote, look at
it as investing in the ideas and ideals that you, as a citizen, want to see
your representative making happen for you.
How do you get
started?[23]
From the website, localvictory.com, they discuss the pros
and cons of starting a Political Action Committee. We should thank them for sharing this
information as they point out that some of the positive aspects of having a
committee is that we can affect change by setting an agenda, giving us a place
at the table (of politics), and of course, allows us to think big. Conversely, as the article points out, it
focuses fund-raising, getting traction, and doing the hard work that it takes
to build a viable PAC committee. How do
we get started? It begins with a ideal
to support someone who believes in our respective ideals. It begins with being committed to supporting
them, all the way. But it also involves
going into our pockets. Deep, deep, deep
into our pockets.
Our ideals, no matter how grand, or noble, can no longer be
appreciated or espoused from the hilltops, or soapbox, at least not unless we
have a well-funded soapbox. Political
candidates appreciate when someone says that they support them, but they need
us to go full bore and pull out soft money, or big checks to support them, all
the way to the state capital, or the nation’s capital.
Can we buy a commandment?
Perhaps the question was misleading, but if we are not supporting those
running for political office, we also are misleading those who are running for
office, as well as those whom we expect to do our bidding for us on education,
crime, transportation, or even wrangling dogs off of the street. We may not be able to buy a commandment, but
inflation has a tendency to affect everything, including how we support our
candidates. Nothing personal, but it is
how we are going to have get our message out and make it clear as to where we
stand on issues of importance to our communities
and to our children’s future.
Conclusion
The time devoted to this post was limited. The time necessary to building a formidable
support structure for a given candidate is also limited. The funds are also limited. But if we expect to see a change in those
areas that affect our lives, we are going to have to step up and invest in
someone, or some set of principles that best represent either who we are, or
where we want to be. $6,000,000[24]
seems like a stretch to overcome when it comes to issues of building schools,
abortions, immigration reform, or building pipelines to transport oil or gas
through the Northwestern portion of the country. Or maybe, we just want lights on our corners,
2 police officers in stead of one. How
much will that cost us? $243,504, 680[25] is
a stretch, but just be aware that there is a cost, or a fee to affect a
change. It never was free, and now, it’s
cost has greatly increased. What are we
prepared to do? How do we expect to
build wealth if we are not willing to put into something what it is we expect
something out of?
The Coveted Commandment:
Thou Shalt Build Wealth
Disclaimer: No
information should be assumed as allegations or accusations of anyone living or
dead, past or present of having participated in, or having accepted any illegal
contributions. Information presented
here, while deemed to be from reliable sources is not guaranteed.
[1]
Disclaimer: Nothing written herein shall be an assumption of, or accusation
that anyone, living or dead, in public office, present or past, accepted any
illegal contributions, or that any elected or appointed official conducted any
illegal activity against their constituents, or those whom they represented at
anytime.
[3]
Political Corruption-
[4]
Political Campaign Finance Laws- http://www.campaignmoney.com/
[5] How
Corruption Works- http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Corruption-Works&id=5791306
[7] 10th
Commandment- http://www.the-ten-commandments.org/tenth_commandment.html
[8] What is a lobbyist?- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying
[9] Lobbying 101- http://lobbying101.wordpress.com/about/
[10] How Lobbying became the Biggest Business in Washington- http://blog.washingtonpost.com/citizen-k-street/chapters/chapter_1/
[11] Open
Secrets on Political Action Committees and Lobbying- http://www.opensecrets.org/earmarks/
[12] Open
Secrets- http://www.opensecrets.org/
[13] How
much money goes into PAC’s? http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/aboutpacs.htm
[15]
Pro-Obama Super PAC Raises $6,000,000 June for Attacks- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-13/pro-obama-super-pac-raised-6-million-in-june-for-attacks.html
[16] NRA
Raises $1.1 million in January- http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/nra-raises-11m-in-january-87886.html
[17] Top City
[22] In the
interest of full disclosure, I am a licensed real estate agent in the State of Louisiana
[23] Pros
and Cons of Starting a Political Action Committee- http://www.localvictory.com/fundraising/your-own-political-action-committee.html
