Category Archives: Political Discourse

Election Campaign Donations – Really?

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(A video version of this post can be found at: https://www.instagram.com/p/DcY46DDuxQ8/ 

Have you ever considered how it seems that every election is steered by the amount of money a campaign grosses in order to make a candidate competitive in a race?

To be truthful, I have made contributions to some candidates and political causes – $546 since 2015 to be exact – not a lot, but some. I suppose those tiny donations were, in some way, my attempt to allay the fear that the opposing candidate would somehow make things worse for us if he or she won and that my support might help prevent that from happening. And this is just what I…as an individual…have contributed. There are hundreds of thousands, well…probably millions of other people like me making similar donations.

Then there is the big money – Super PACs, corporations, non-profits, labor unions who all invest vast sums virtually trying to buy whatever political clout they can to support their own objectives and thanks to the 2010 Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission ruling by the Supreme Court, they’ve been allowed to invest unlimited amounts of money in political advertising. Is it any wonder the rich get richer? They have the resources to extend their influence to buy whatever they like by funneling money, often surreptitiously into the Super PACs.

But should this really be the way elections are decided? Should it be about how much  money is raised and spent on a campaign? Is it fair to allow the wealthy to have that much leverage in seeking what they want? Oh HELL no. But all this isn’t new. Complaints against Citizens United go back quite a ways.

Think about the aggregated amount of money sitting around waiting to be spent on ads that denigrate an opponent. Instead of a candidate or their supporting Super PAC telling us what they propose, what they stand for, what they want to accomplish if elected, most ads seem to ignore that in favor of telling us how awful someone else is – often by telling half-truths, or in some cases, outright lies. We are bombarded with endless commercials often ending with the words “I approve this message”. We get endless texts and emails. We have to drive through intersections littered with posters that never seem to be removed.

Every four to six years there are campaigns: 435 U.S. house of representatives, 100 senators, a president and vice president – that’s just the Federal level; 50 state governors, roughly 7,383 state legislators – and every one of these candidates try to raise millions of dollars to fight their opponents.

And recently, June 30, 2026 in fact, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6 to 3 ruling eliminated the Federal limits on how much money a political party can spend for presidential and congressional campaigns. Justice Bret Kavanaugh, delivering the court’s opinion stated that the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act’s limits violate the First Amendment. He said, and I quote, “In short, Congress’s original justification for the limits on political-party coordinated expenditures is entirely inadequate under the First Amendment.” Mind you before that ruling, the FECA’s limits allowed for up to $4m on a senate campaign, $130,000 for a House candidate, and over $32M for a Presidential Candidate. The First Amendment also played a big part in the Citizens United ruling. I guess the First Amendment doesn’t come cheap.

Here’s a simple idea – how much better would it be if every candidate for every office posted their voting record, if applicable, along with their platform of what they hope to achieve on their own website. For God’s sake, who doesn’t have a website these days? Use the damn things. If the press did their job and made everyone aware of who was running for what position, then everyone would have the opportunity to read for themselves what each candidate is about and make a decision on whom to vote for. I read a posting yesterday that, in Texas, Greg Abbott’s “war chest” stands at $67.4 million. That’s one candidate for a re-election as governor.

So, let’s use round numbers. Let’s say in that in every four to six year period there are 10,000 campaigns and each campaign spends $2,000, even $3,000 for a well-constructed, comprehensive candidate website – that’s $20 or $30 million in total, less than half of one candidates war chest. There are billions of dollars out there trying to sway elections. Don’t you think there are better ways to spend that money? You know The Constitution, that document which governs how things should run in this country. As a reminder, it opens with “We The People”. It does not open with “We the Super PACS”.

Just one more example of American insanity.

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United States of America – Where Are We?

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If you scan social media like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok you’ll encounter a seemingly endless feed of meme’s and videos spewing hatred or content aimed at Donald Trump or any number of his cabinet members and right-leaning congressmen/women. I know I’ve personally shared many of them rather than write more of the same thing. After all, my voice and input isn’t going to add anything new to the narrative or become the magic pill that effects change.

But here’s the thing that puzzles me about that. Given the steadily increasing amount of vitriol, one might think that in the aggregate, the senators and representatives in Congress would have taken the measure of it all and dealt with the Trump administration by dismantling it. But that hasn’t happened. Yes, some Federal Judges temporarily put a stop to his schemes, but the truly damaging aspects of his actions: the war in Iran, the insane tariffs, the defunding of programs that are actually hurting people, and his undeniably inane propaganda continue unchecked. Of course, the King Kong sized gorilla in the room – the Epstein Files – is still there despite MAGA’s attempts to foment diversions.

Bill Clinton was subjected to impeachment hearings stemming from having had an illicit affair. Richard Nixon faced the same thanks to Watergate and only escaped an ignominious exit due to his resignation and ultimate pardon by Gerald Ford. Put both of those things on one side of the scales of justice and the deeds of Trump on the other. The latter would create a resounding thud as it hit the floor. What does that tell you about where we stand as a country?

Republican lawmakers have clearly demonstrated bold-faced cowardice in allowing our country to spiral out of control, reducing our stature on the world stage from the leading nation of the free world to a circus staffed by evil-minded clowns. The math doesn’t quite add up either. According to estimates posted by the University of Florida, as of 2024, there were roughly 224.7  million eligible voters in the United States. Trump received 77.3 million votes and Kamala Harris 75 million. That leaves 72.4 million voters who remained silent in the last presidential election. It’s interesting to consider the direction the election might have taken had that missing element actually voiced their opinion. If you believe in the goodness of the American people, you’d have to think that within that body of non-voters, the result would have skewed in favor of Harris. To think the opposite would be to realize that as a country, we’ve stepped onto a very dark path.

Republican Senators hold 53 of the 100 seats, and Republican Congressmen hold 218 of the 435 – those are not overwhelming imbalances. If even a small number of people angry with the way the Trump administration is operating made the time and effort to prevail upon their elected Republican officials then it’s possible to think something proactive might have taken place since January 2025. This has not happened, and all I hear now is “let’s see what happens with the mid-terms.” If, after November, the balance changes in favor of the Democratic party and still nothing changes, then I’d say it’s case closed for the United States.

As for how we’re operating now, you have to think MAGA adherents are the driving force of our political machinery. If you took the number of non-voters and distributed them evenly between Republican and Democrat you could still say the total MAGA population would constitute less than 50% of the party. After all, it’s safe to say that every MAGA is a Republican, but not every Republican is MAGA, which means the tail is wagging the dog.

I hate to think our future is bleak. If the Republicans somehow manage to maintain their strangle hold on American politics and foreign relations, then we face being sucked into a black hole. If the Democrats regain control, it will take years if not decades to rebuild what’s been dismantled or destroyed and to restore our credibility with our allies and trading partners.

Doing a deeper dive into the 2024 election’s non-voters, statistics posted by Pew Research show that 30% of the non-voters or 21.6 million people were aged from 18 to 29, mostly Gen Z youths who remained silent. The next 26 million comprised the tail end of Gen X but mostly Millennials. About half of non-voters were white, from lower income families with only a high school education or less. In fact, 23 of the 31 states Trump carried rank in the lowest half of the most and least educated states. Only two of the lower half states voted for Harris. It’s not hard to understand how the Trump administration’s colossally successful propaganda campaigns have taken root. Something not really seen since Hitler’s 1930s rise to power with Joseph Goebbels leading the way. I’m not suggesting that people with less education are stupid – that’s not measured by what degree you have, but less education will result in the likelihood of not grasping the finer points of a situation and be more easily convinced by targeted rhetoric and outright lies. Say a lie often enough and less educated people will start to believe it as truth.

Well, as I mentioned earlier, the mid-terms are around the corner. If you were one of the voters who failed to turn out – DON’T DO THAT AGAIN! If you think America will somehow survive as the country you grew up enjoying, then you’re ignoring how it can just as easily go the other way. Take a look at past empires: The Roman Empire, the Mongol Empire, The Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, and Tsarist Russia, all once formidable and now gone.

It’s time to wake up. Tik tock…

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Sorrows to the Stones

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Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;

Who, though they cannot answer my distress,

Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,

Titus Andronicus, Act III, Scene I

Sorrows to the Stones is a work in progress, novel title, but the quote from which it derives best defines the place for where my understanding of humankind has landed.

The late Dr. Karen Erickson, former Dean of the school of Arts and Sciences at Southern New Hampshire University and advocate of the Master of Fine Arts program once said the job of a writer is to observe and become the spokesperson of what those observations reveal. Writers hold the mirror of humanity, of society, and permit the reader to focus on what it means to be a participant of life.

I’ve had ample opportunity to observe over six and a half decades. I watched John Glenn launch in 1962, felt the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis, experienced the emotional shock of the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations. Observed the unfolding civil rights movement as integration and school busing blurred the strict segregation of African-Americans, the landing on the moon, daily reports from the battlefields of Viet Nam on the evening news. The freedom marches of 1963 and yet we succumb to riots like that in Los Angeles three decades later and now again with the murder of George Floyd.

I’ve seen the widening divergence of our two-party political system. Where a Venn diagram once showed the majority of red and blue dots in the center, now has solid white space between red and blue balloons. Gay rights and LGBTQ issues finally made it to the table of discussion, yet it seems even more dangerous to be anything other than a male or female heterosexual. Society had forged inroads to acceptance, but like a failed launch, the rocket has come crashing back to earth.

I observed the Islamic world through five years in the Middle East, seen unrelenting poverty of third-world nations where Philippinos, Yemenis, Pakistanis, and Asians made the equivalent of pocket change in comparison to their western counterparts. I’ve seen children in Africa with only a single outfit of clothing, herding flocks of goat and camel down barely paved roads. Soccer balls were the currency of youth on the streets of Asmara.

Then there was the election process of 2016, a turning point – my observations now hyper-focused with a clearer imperative. The simple act of writing stories faltered in the context of relevance. The stay-at-home version of existence thanks to Covid-19 allowed more time to scan posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram where the conduct of argumentation performs from the platform of absolutes. There is a tendency toward a lack of attention to perspective and the breeding of over-simplification. Smart phones provide the means by which bad behavior proves the point but also becomes a weapon to brand anyone and everyone with a scarlet letter. Someone is offended in one way or another at every moment. We live with daily character assassination, some warranted; many questionable. Civil wars of all issues, no matter the magnitude, rage and divide. Leadership tears at the fabric of our country and feeds the virus of disease that diminishes all progress. Worse, the creation of a permissive environment where racist and supremacist attitudes projecting hatred and narrow-mindedness are tolerated with tacit encouragement at the highest level.

I was fortunate not to be born in a time or place that would have subjected me to the likes of Hitler, Stalin, or Mussolini. I have not been starved or suffered the threat of horrific death by bombings, political purges, or prejudice. I have faced many issues and difficulties, but for all that live a decent life. It doesn’t mean, however, my observations are any less accurate, nor is my perception of where we are heading, and it’s scary.

The brief respite the planet has enjoyed from human interaction has demonstrated some remarkable changes. Fish can be seen in the canals of Venice, carbon emissions are down, air quality is up, water is cleaner, animals stray farther from their limited habitats. It paints a clear picture of the damage we do and what we’ll continue to do once the pandemic passes. The DNA of human nature is rife with destructive tendencies. The media does a good job in demonstrating this with every article, news report, breaking headline, and interviews with every talking head imaginable. One cannot experience a half hour news program without feeling doom, even with the occasional uplifting story designed to restore a sense faith and hope eroded by our steady diet of reality.

I don’t know where we go from here, but from my observations and conclusions, it doesn’t look like a very good place. So, I share my woes with the stones…for their concern seems more genuine than that of my fellow man.

 

Photo by Nikhil kumar on Unsplash