As we noted a while back, "dark money" (untraceable political contributions) has been exposed for the anti-democratic cancer that it is (again, thanks Roberts Court!). To its credit the
once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle had an editorial on January 13 (following up on
reporting by Matea Gold) on the extraordinary lengths to which far right-wing plutocrats
=cough=Koch brothers=cough= go to hide the obscene amounts of money sloshing around the world of right-wing politics. Here's a letter on the subject which appeared in today's paper:
The Post’s Jan. 13 editorial “Dark money labyrinth” asked of the conservative groups flooding our electoral process with hundreds of millions of dollars: “What do they fear from disclosure of their political investments?” It may be that these groups and other Republicans favor secrecy because most Americans do not agree with their positions.
Even most Republicans favor raising the minimum wage and extending unemployment benefits. Most Americans favor a balanced approach to the deficit, rejected by Republicans, that includes new revenue from tax reform.
Those backing such groups also probably don’t want to advertise their support for a party that considers protecting the wealthy’s privileged tax breaks as its primary priority and that relegates the plight of the unemployed and the slow economic recovery to secondary status. From minimum wage to immigrationto extending unemployment insurance to voter suppression to assaults on union workers and women’s rights, Republicans have fixed their sights on regular, hard-working Americans. If I were supporting that party and those efforts, I would want secrecy, too. [our emphasis]
Bill Conrad, Alexandria
Money is not free speech, and corporations aren't people, no matter what the plutocrats and their toadies would have us believe. Not only does it have the potential to subvert the democratic process, it's (yes,
Justice Kennedy) corrupting. More light needs to be shed on the problem by the media, followed by heat from the electorate.
