The increasing political power of corporations means that women and people of color have less clout in politics than they deserve. Money in politics perpetuates economic inequality, of course, but it also negatively impacts the feminist fight for equality for women and the struggle to end racial inequities.
My co-director at MassVOTE, Cheryl Crawford, and I wrote an article over at the Banner laying out our case.
…”Money has almost become the sole determining factor as to who can run for office. It now takes millions of dollars to even consider running for Congress, Senate or governor. As a result, there are a lot of 1 percenters and millionaires in high office, and very few middle-class, working-class, and poor people — and hardly any people of color.
President Barack Obama is a rare exception. In the US Senate, there are currently only two Latinos, one Asian American, no African Americans, and not one woman of color. If Senators mirrored the real US population, 27 of them would be people of color.”
Read the whole thing. What do you think?
Which is why those who disrespect the DeFranco campaign for raising less money are wrong to do so.
I disrespect her because her campaign is about vanity. After all, why is she running? There is no major policy difference between her and Elizabeth Warren. She does not represent a different constituency.
But, if she is really serious about running for the Senate, then let’s see her release four years of her income tax returns!
I would say that there are certain…differences of opinion between the two as is shown by this clip and this clip, both from WGBH.
If you think that this distinction is important, that’s fine. I am sure that Elizabeth Warren can handle Marisa DeFranco’s attacks.
I still want to know when Maris DeFranco will release her income tax records.
But you know, this whole thing is shaping up to be similar to the Vietnam anti-war movement. it will require crowd action. People in the streets, and a common cause the directly touches everyone. People were not stirred to act on the level needed during Vietman until the children of middle-class families started to come home in body bags.
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On the one hand avigreen is bemoaning the influence of money on politics. Strange, no thought given to the arbitrary selection by the elites and the enormous amounts of money given by the 1% to E. Warren. Strange way of thingking……..
and it sucks not to have a lot of money in MA.
Pi is not exactly 3. It is more complicated than that. The election process is not designed to have the Senate mirror society as a whole, if is designed to mirror the states they are representing.
Sorry to be a contrarion, but I see no way that someone like Michelle Bachman represents women or that Allen West represents people of color. They are both contemptable idiots.
Without trying to show all the underlying math, here is a thought experiment. I go to a Craps table in any Casino, and using two standard dice, decide to try to roll 100, because 100 is a nice round number that appeals to people with OCD. It doesn’t matter how many times I roll the dice, it will never get two six sided dice to add up to 100.
By extension, you will never get elected offices to mirror the general population. You will never roll 100 with 2 dice and PI will never be exactly 3. The expectation is erroneous.
Your calling Bachman and West “contemptable [sic]” idiots is a rather ad hominem attack. Do you have their IQ scores? Or just acting out?
The same “idiot” label can be applied to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. And Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Mikulski.
Or, if not a Forrest Gump fan, we can hearken back to JC:
“ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
presence on this planet is an ad hominem.
“The same “idiot” label can be applied to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. And Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Mikulski.”
Got any IQ scores to back that up?
Thought not.