Its a Money Thing

Elections are neither Blue nor Red, they are Green. The concept of a Green Election is simple and as a student of Political Science this concept should be ever so apparent. Politics.... Its a Money Thing.

It is very understandable why so many people think that money in politics only makes a democracy function improperly. But let it be made clear that if the government is allowed to regulate the amount of money that can be contributed to an individual candidate then the wealthy will only continue to dominate politics in the American System. Most politicians are not born into money, nor can they afford to fund the entirety of their own campaigns. If the government was to regulate campaign contributions given by wealthy individuals or PAC's to politicians, then people like the Donald Trump will be able to flourish. It is not Trumps political views that are being refereed to but rather his personal wealth and his ability to project that personal wealth on the campaign trail. Money in politics has and always will be an important part of not just political campaign processes, but all aspects of the general American political process.

Lets get away from the regulation aspect of political fundraising and examine a responsible politician who comes from a blue collar background and now sports the red battle colors of the GOP.

Congressman Charlie Dent (PA-15th) knows how to raise money, that is made evidently clear when looking into his fundraising Rolodex. During the 2013-2014 fundraising period he was able to raise a combined total of $1.77 million, and that was without any opponent. In 2010, Dent was able to raise $2.5 million. Now that is a good chunk of change, but it is nothing in respect to other politicians from huge urban areas like New York, California and Texas. 

The top four industries that donated to Congressman Dent were Professional Health Services($131,000), Pharmaceuticals($86,500), Chemical Manufacturing($82,150), and Electric Utilities($76,399). But we cannot forget the $63,200 donated from Law Firms, because after all, its always good to know a Lawyer. Its no surprise that Health services were at the top, with how massive the medical infrastructure(St. Luke's HN and Lehigh Valley HN) of the Lehigh Valley is. Chemical and Electronic Utilities are also expected because Air Products, PPL, and Comcast are all based out of Pennsylvania. 

But its not just industrial sectors that donate the big money. Individual donors and private enterprises also account for a large influx of money. Out of respect for many of the donors from around the Lehigh Valley, individual names will not be named in this blog post. I understand that the contributions are public record and it is encouraged that the reader find and examine these names if they so choose. However, this entry will not name drop, but rather discuss groups of individuals in different professional circles that contributed. On top of PAC's connected with certain industries there are personal donations from those industries that tell an even more personal story of a politicians web of connections. There are many Legal professionals that donated to Congressman Dent, as well as many Health care professionals. Developers and Realtors also chipped in, which again should come as no surprise to the political science student. There is nothing wrong with either the former or the latter. Furthermore other politicians cannot be counted out because they also give money to other politician's campaigns from their own campaign funds. However, if any of the groups just named are most regulated in the giving of donations to political campaigns, it is the politicians. 

Backtracking briefly to the issue of more government regulation of campaign finance there are two additional issues arrived at. If the government says that candidates can only raise money from small donations, then it is evident that a candidate would have to know many different individuals. This creates two problems, the first being that the incumbent always knows more people and therefore can raise more money from small donations. The second problem is that, if politicians can only raise money from small donation sources them they will continuously be distracted by raising enough money to campaign and therefore will have less time to govern. American Campaign Finance is more regulated now then at previous times in American history and regulating it even more would only further harm the American system, even if the intention is in good faith. 

Its like children in an arcade, the kids with more quarters can win more tickets, and the more tickets you have, the bigger the prize you can get from behind the counter.

Sources:

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00026171&cycle=2016

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