Politics
So Andrew lost the race for Public Advocate. It was a hard fought race but he was able to bring to the foreground a lot of issues that hopefully will be addressed by the new (old) political establishment.
I’m of course a little frustrated. Not because he lost, it was an uphill battle agaisnt an incumbent. But because the more I learn of politics the less I believe in the system. Its stanks of elitism. Come election time everyone tries to show how “down to earth” they are. How “like-us” or “humble” they are but its mostly propoganda. Why don’t more politicians just say “Look, I make a lot of money now. I don’t need the money. But I’ve been contributing and helping other campaigns for the last X years. So its my turn to have some power. Elect me.”
The frustrating part is that its a never ending cycle. How many political outsiders actually win? Excluding billionaires. Its tough to get into office. Then once you get in you have to spend all your time preparing for the next office. Then a disaster occurs and you realize “oh crap, I am actually expected to DO something.”
Well it will be a long night for me. I don’t plan on sleeping. Just work.
September 14th, 2005 at 6:19 am
Ejovi,
First thing, welcome to the wonderful world of politics. The place where everyone has a dream but the rich people make the office. Our country is built on the dream that anyone can make president, or office for that matter. And I am still one who truly believes that. Now is reality we both know and you are seeing it first hand that unfortunately that is not the case sadly, because it is the small people that sometimes have the better ideas.
September 14th, 2005 at 3:54 pm
You should do a statistical analysis
to prove that the higher the office
one seeks the more wealth they must have to obtain those votes. The correlations should be very high at least for the past 50 years. Also the underlying factor that causes alot of
campaigns to raise money is advertising. If advertising was free
for newspapers and television for th candidates then it would be a more even playing field.
September 15th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Campaign finance was supposed to even the playing field a little. “You can only raise this much…” and then the government matches it. It’s a good system but many wealthy and connected politicians opt out of campaign finance and just raise whatever they want.
Incumbents running for congress have to spend about $500,000. But if they are being challenged the cost can sky rocket to $2,000,000. The largest expense being TV ads and such.
September 17th, 2005 at 4:24 am
A politician running for congress has to raise about 1000 to 100,000 per week that they are in congress before there re-election campaign. Campaign finance was suppose to even the playing field and it is a good system if the rich would play by the guidelines.