Howard Dean: Scott Walker’s Victory “Is The Beginning Of The Undermining Of American Democracy”
“I think the sad story of the night was the money because this is the beginning of the undermining of American democracy, and this is what you see tonight when you see a guy outspend somebody seven to one with money that nobody knows where it came from,” said Howard Dean of last night’s victory for Scott Walker and Republicans in Wisconsin.
Funny how it’s always Republican victories that are, to Democrats, evidence of democracy falling apart. Click the image for video.
Ed Schultz had this same reaction on MSNBC last night as the race was called for Walker, so it’s pretty clear that the Democrats had their spin ready.
What I don’t understand is, what’s so bad about political money? It’s free speech. Unions do it. Corporations do it. People rich and poor do it. So what? At the end of the day, people still get to vote. I think it’s perfectly legitimate to criticize a source of the money, and while I don’t like how much political money is anonymous these days, that’s a direct result from all the nonsensical campaign finance reform put in place by Congress.
In an effort to “take money out of politics,” campaign finance reform has resulted in more political money being spent anonymously than ever before.
I think we ought to allow unlimited campaign contributions, and 100% transparency for every penny contributed to candidates. Non-candidate organizations can do whatever they want, and yes I know. “Super PACS,” blah, blah, blah. As if that money were really anonymous. We all know who gave the Super PAC money to the Democrats in Wisconsin. It was the unions and other left-wing interests. And we all know who gave to Republicans. It was the corporations and big businesses.
All this complaining about money is more about excuses than ethics.
Tags: howard dean, scott walker, wisconsin
