When it comes to running for presidency it takes a well rounded person fit for the specific job, and of course, a whole lot of money! The amount of spending that goes into elections is ridiculously high, and I believe it's out of hand how much these candidates can dish out to support themselves and attack others, or what even seems like bribing. Just to give a little bit of an understanding of how much these candidates are making it rain ill throw out a few numbers. Just recently Mitt Romney's action committee spent $7.7 million on an ad to be aired for the next two weeks in ten states for a contest; in Florida alone he spent $10 million in support of his campaign. He has also purchased $1.8 million in Michigan, $1.9 million in Ohio, $1.1 million in Tennessee, and $1.1 million in Georgia. These states I've mentioned above are only a handful, so I can only imagine what the total is for the remaining states.
Candidates spend a good portion of their time raising money, they get the money they get power, power is what government is all about! And what good ole Teddy Roosevelt said is too much money and too much power in the hands of the few is never a good thing for freedom or fairness in any nation. Money has too much of an influence on politics, sure in this generation its going to take money to accomplish things, but the high amounts of spending is corrupting the way it should be working. The public does not realize how much money they are paying these candidates just for them to be helping themselves raise money to get into congress.
The Santorum campaign raised just under $2.2 million, putting him dead last in the current Republican field. Mitt Romney pulled in $23.9 million in the fourth quarter alone, so for the year Romney had a 28-1 raising advantage of Santorum's. So Santorum's earnings was basically pocket change to Romney's. Money dominates our elections, how did we get to this point where money was the biggest contributing factor? Well I think of it an evolutionary chain for politics, as time passed survival of the fittest (one with the money) was the key factor for winning.
Reed Hanke
I also agree on the fact that presidential candidates spend an insane amount on their campaigns and the most ridiculous part of these presidential campaigns is that an individual can essentially buy his or her way into office. This seems criminal that these candidates are preaching to the ignorant crowds while shoveling money to states as well as gaining the elites support in a state, but yet it happens again and again every time a presidential election happens. Could this be the purest form of political corruption or is this a pre-presidential check mark, Electoral College, which determines whether a specific candidate is acceptable. However, in a democratic utopian society shouldn’t individual, domestic or perhaps international ideas united people behind possible presidential candidates instead of money, corruption, and possible illegal deals.
ReplyDelete--Will
I completely agree that money has too much of an influence on the presidential race, or any political election at all. I don't believe money should be considered in the election process because i believe that people without as much money know just as much, if not more, about what is best for our country. Plus I believe they represent the majority of Americans who are also in the middle income class. They should have equal opportunities in the election as the candidates with money. Every voter needs to view all candidates on an equal level and I don't believe this is happening with money becoming such an important issue in election races.
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