Jimmy Higgins
Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2001
- Messages
- 45,660
- Basic Beliefs
- Calvinistic Atheist
Trump and the GOP generally receive near the same amount of money as the Democrats. This is in large part thanks to Citizens United, a case where conservative SCOTUS justices felt that money wasn't an issue when it came to elections. The even more conservative SCOTUS (can we even call them conservative now?) much more recently ruled that payments after services rendered (kickbacks) wasn't a bribe. We have way too much money in our elections, and it is the conservative SCOTUS justices that helped make it that way.Will Harris (or any other candidate for that matter) getting so much money/donations raise the issue of "quid pro quo"?Harris campaign reports 58,000 volunteer sign-ups in 48 hours. And in addition to the $100 million in new contributions, another $150 million in commitments from the largest PAC that supported Biden.
Next up is to see if Harris’s history of working with the CA tech industry will cause some of the billionaires to rethink their plans to back Trump. That would cause an epic meltdown.
How is the allegations/perception of the 'best candidate money can buy' be handled?
I wonder about that because in Australia, unless they are an independent, we donate to a party rather than a person. The party, not the candidate, determines how that money is spent, allocated etc. This lessens, but does not entirely remove, the perception of buying candidates.
Whether Harris will be her own President was an argument I heard about VP Gore. Sure, the opposing candidate really wasn't qualified for the position, but the 'bought off' argument seems to get dragged out when there aren't much in the way of ways to justify voting for the other candidate.