New U.S. election rules open donation spigots for the very rich

CBC News (NB: the link is to CBC.  As Canadian it is a communist pinko state funded organisation, so read with total disregard for the content.)

America is a particularly wonderful place to be really rich. You can buy just about anything you want here. And the list of available luxuries just got bigger.

After its latest ruling on campaign finance last week, humourist Andy Borowitz posted this observation on the New Yorker’s website: “Supreme Court defends wealthy’s right to own government.”

It was satire of the best sort — almost indistinguishable from truth.

The court’s conservative justices, at the request of the Republican Party, have now bulldozed away almost all restrictions on campaign donations, just in time for the midterm congressional elections this fall.

The bipartisan McCain-Feingold law, in which U.S. lawmakers once recognized money’s potential to warp democracy, is now flayed and gutted.

And given that cash is the single most consistent determinant in the American electoral system, that means the one-tenth of one per cent of the population that controls the vast majority of the nation’s wealth may now proceed to shape America’s governments as it pleases.

What we are watching is a 21st century democracy reversing back to 18th century autocracy.  I just need to see the next republican president (Jeb Bush?) say L’etat, c’est moi… and the circle is squared.

Russia has never had democracy really yet we bleat over Putin, can’t for the life see the difference between US and Russian oligarchs.  They all made their money off the state, either directly or indirectly!