Saturday, March 29, 2014

Soros Doesn't Understand Power

That's Jonathan Soros, son of George. Politico Magazine informs:
Imagine for a moment that you hail from one of the most famous families in international finance. Your father is worth $20 billion. And on account of his largesse, your last name is as synonymous with Democratic politics as Roosevelt or Kennedy.
Seeking your generosity, candidates come to you, hat in hand. Your concerns, they tell you, will be their concerns—so long as you contribute at their next fundraiser. And then, in your early 40s, you decide that this whole system is messed up. That it is you, and people like you, the rarest of the one percenters, who have warped our politics.
This, in essence, is the path recently trod by Jonathan Soros, the son of the financier George Soros, who, like his father, has given prodigiously to Democratic interests—more than $2 million in the last few years to various candidates and causes. But now he’s hoping his cash can buy him something more: He’s quietly bankrolling an effort to limit the very influence of rich donors like him.
Sitting on the 40th floor of the midtown Manhattan office tower that houses the private investment firm he runs, with Central Park at his feet and a cloud-covered city rolling behind him, Soros is aware of the irony—as well as the skepticism—that surrounds such an idea. But he has sketched out an ambitious plan to support candidates in congressional and state-level elections across the country who can help push the most sweeping campaign finance reforms in a generation, reforms that would include a national clean elections bill, which would mandate a robust public financing system for all federal elections. If all goes according to his ambitious plan, Soros see this happening by 2021. “The path will not be straight, we know that,” he says. “But there is real momentum. We are serious about winning.”
What Soros doesn't get is that elected officials hold power to create legislation. If direct money contributions are eliminated, it will only result in those. who seek legislative change, to attempt other means of getting to politicians. At least with direct contributions, we get to see who the crony operators are. If they have to do all their influence peddling in the shadows, it will be much more difficult to get the general public to see how the cronies work.

Further, public funding of federal elections will tend to entrench those who already have a high public profile, chiefly people who are already politicians, and make it difficult for upstarts to break through. Without money bombs, Ron Paul, for example, would never have been able to raise his profile. There is no way that prior to those money bombs that Dr. Paul would have had enough nationwide support to qualify for government funds to run for office (Setting aside for the moment, the outrageous fact of forcing taxpayers to directly foot the bill for all those running for office). 

4 comments:

  1. Statism is all about power.

    The power to rule over other humans.

    The power to declare oneself above the law; indeed to think of oneself as Creator of the law.

    This son of Soros does not seem like a bright guy at all. He should learn the facts of life from his father.

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  2. "sweeping campaign finance reforms in a generation, reforms that would include a national clean elections bill, which would mandate a robust public financing system for all federal elections."
    .
    F'ing ridiculous.
    When a system is this distorted, the only logical option is to withdraw consent.
    If you are not allowed to withdraw consent......then consent never existed.
    .
    Go piss up a rope Soros.

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  3. This little collectivist Soros monkey wants to steal money from me and hand it over to political terrorists?

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  4. "If they have to do all their influence peddling in the shadows, it will be much more difficult to get the general public to see how the cronies work."

    Maybe this is the real reason soros is pushing for this bill.

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