I think "Citizens United" could be the end of the Republican Party.
Part of the reason why Trump has made it so big is that the Republican field is huge.
The Republican field is huge because a lot of donors with more money than brains are willing to shell out big money for their campaigns. Trump said that Super PACs are a scam, but I think most of the campaigns are scams. Raise a few million dollars and you can pay all your friends big salaries, then you can turn around and get a favor from them.
I think that this primary shows are little money has to do with elections. Just look at the correlation of money spent, and percentage in the polls. All the people doing well are spending very little. Many elections are actually like this.
I don't think this is representative of anything. Trump speaks in clickbait and that gets him media attention and hence popularity. You can easily argue that it's an innovative strategy, but he is only able to do it because he inherited his wealth.
I am speaking of everyone not just trump. Also trump inherited around $40 million (in assets), then built a brand image worth billions. Good brands can do well.
Sure - he has done a good job so far in brand building, but his brand is predicated on him /already/ being rich - which is not anything he created for himself, rather something he inherited.
He goes from tens of millions is assets to billions. A fluke you say. If that was so easy we would have a lot more billionaires. Investment choices are always obvious after the fact.
I said the avoiding of bankruptcy was a fluke. And yes, it is certainly the case that if more people inherited $40 million when Trump did, we'd have many more billionaires today since a conservative investment strategy over the same period would have made them so.
When a rich person makes a joke, everyone laughs and usually the rich person looks pleased with themselves - As though they think that their joke was actually funny.
You would think that rich people would actively try to surround themselves with people who don't laugh at their jokes and who aren't afraid to attack their character, but in reality, they don't - After a few years, wealthy people genuinely start to think of themselves as being funny and they feel offended when people don't laugh at their jokes. No wonder they feel increasingly isolated.
Why would they surround themselves with such people? They're already wealthy, they have nothing to gain by talking to someone who will attack their character.
For most of history, only the wealthy could vote, and all sorts of schemes were used to keep "the poor" from exercising any political power whatsoever, besides pitchforks and the guillotine of course.
As long as those whom become elected accept large sums of money from individuals whom expect as least some quid pro quo for their "investment", I just can't see how anyone is surprised that this is the system we get.
"The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations." - Thomas Jefferson
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 49.3 ms ] threadPart of the reason why Trump has made it so big is that the Republican field is huge.
The Republican field is huge because a lot of donors with more money than brains are willing to shell out big money for their campaigns. Trump said that Super PACs are a scam, but I think most of the campaigns are scams. Raise a few million dollars and you can pay all your friends big salaries, then you can turn around and get a favor from them.
Surely it's a lack of empathy leads to greater wealth?
https://www.quora.com/Did-Donald-Trump-inherit-a-lot-of-mone...
You would think that rich people would actively try to surround themselves with people who don't laugh at their jokes and who aren't afraid to attack their character, but in reality, they don't - After a few years, wealthy people genuinely start to think of themselves as being funny and they feel offended when people don't laugh at their jokes. No wonder they feel increasingly isolated.
Those who can't fake well enough get pushed away.
It's a bit like religion - According to your reasoning, everyone should believe in God - After all; why wouldn't you, who wouldn't want eternal life?
For most of history, only the wealthy could vote, and all sorts of schemes were used to keep "the poor" from exercising any political power whatsoever, besides pitchforks and the guillotine of course.
As long as those whom become elected accept large sums of money from individuals whom expect as least some quid pro quo for their "investment", I just can't see how anyone is surprised that this is the system we get.
"The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations." - Thomas Jefferson
This issue has been forever with us.