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    Jerry-NetherlandAdam Weinstein
    4/25/14 2:43pm

    Campaign spending has already reached the point of diminishing returns, as proven by the billions spent (for naught) in 2012. So, if all the propagandizing and advertising is essentially worthless, the rest of the unspent money becomes quid pro quo corrupt - and this is where a legal case to stop this must be made (by minds much greater than mine)! That said, it will be another decade before /if we ever get out from under the oligarchs and resume a democracy.

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      tucosalamancaJerry-Netherland
      4/25/14 4:37pm

      Dude, oligarchy? You want to see a real oligarchy, go look at Russia. That is a de facto oligarchy. Here? It is just politics. I'm continually shocked that people think this is some kind of big deal. AMERICAN POLITICIANS HAVE BEEN SPENDING MONEY AND EXCHANGING FAVORS AND DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET ELECTED SINCE OUR COUNTRY WAS CREATED. This isn't anything new.

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      Jerry-Netherlandtucosalamanca
      4/25/14 5:00pm

      @tucosalamanca: You are right - it isn't anything new. But it has risen to ridiculous levels, then been legislatively or judicially reigned in over the years. Right now we are at one of those places where, due to extreme wealth consolidation, it is peaking and needs to be put in check.

      Highly recommended reading on this (the ebbs and flows of the influence of oligarchs in American politics and society) is Empty Mansions, which follows - in just two very long generations - the Clark family; Senator Clark's 19th century mining and land mega-wealth (which bought him his set in the Senate), to the insulated life and death of daughter Huguette Clark a few years ago at 104.

      Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of… Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of… Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette…

      Amazon.com

      Buy now 33 readers bought this

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    VectoriousAdam Weinstein
    4/25/14 2:41pm
    GIF

    That's all I have to say about that.

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      araucaniadAdam Weinstein
      4/25/14 8:45pm

      Talk is cheap, but somehow, lobbying is so expensive...

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        BadaaaaaaaaamAdam Weinstein
        4/25/14 2:23pm

        My nagging concern is that if people pay so little attention and do so little research that it all comes down to who has the most 30 second ad spots...

        ...Does any of it really matter, then? The electorate is willfully ignorant and lazy.

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          lmpBadaaaaaaaaam
          4/25/14 2:55pm

          In my opinion political ads shouldn't even be allowed. I've been through 2 elections in my time in Quebec, and aside from the faces of politicians all over the place on posters and some debates and news coverage of some stuff they said. I never saw a single campaign ad on TV.

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        BKPhilAdam Weinstein
        4/25/14 2:22pm

        Speech may be free, but it sure ain't equal.

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          TicketToRyeBKPhil
          4/26/14 2:04am

          So? What's the big deal about "equal"? I'm not asking facetiously — I'm serious. Are you a Christian or something?

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          BKPhilTicketToRye
          4/30/14 9:27am

          God is even deader than democracy.

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        thrillhouse2Adam Weinstein
        4/25/14 2:20pm

        Finally, the rich white man will have a voice in politics.

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