MAGA, INC.:....Deep-Pockets Contributors Fueling Presidential Campaigns....A Million Here, A Million There...Whose Vote Counts More?...Billionaires In It For Tax Cuts......Big Cheese Gets Policy......But What About The Little Guy?...Fair, Or Not Fair?...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It's the one side of politics we all know about but rarely study - contributions. Yes, we get the Emails asking for donations, usually small, like $5 or $10, sometimes monthly. Those do add up. I mean, we're a big country of some 350 million people.

That's the cool "good citizen" side of participation.

Then, however, come the boys with the Big Bucks, the millions, at times $25 million or even $50 million. They get the ears of a politician. They want major action on issues of their choice, rarely anything to aid the entire country. 

This caught my eye yesterday on the Common Cause website -

Empowered by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling allowing unlimited independent financial contributions to support political campaigns, outside spending during the current election cycle has hit a record $1 billion, according to a report published Thursday by the watchdog group OpenSecrets.

". . . .Super PACs and other outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money have poured about $1.1 billion into 2024 federal elections as of August 15 - nearly twice what similar groups spent over the same period in the 2020 presidential election cycle when independent expenditures hit an all-time record," OpenSecrets reported.

"More than half of all outside spending during the 2024 cycle - about $585.8 million - has gone into the presidential election, which saw an especially expensive Republican presidential nominating contest," the group added.

"The largest spender, by far, is Donald Trump's flagship super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc.," the report notes. "To date, MAGA Inc. has spent about $125.1 million boosting Trump in the presidential election..."

That's a load of cash.

All of it to influence the election.

Yes, there are many Americans who would like Big Money out of our national elections. It does tend to water-down the individual vote. And, yes, that cash does finance a campaign and, well, it's also true that few Americans would be able to self-fund a bid for the presidency.

Is it here to stay?

In our capitalist society, where money does talk, well, we say a fight against these billionaires would be noble and popular, but useless. Still, it's at the very least good to know that, at present, we sort of get some info on who is donating and to whom.

That's just a little bit better than getting nothing, of course...

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