I already assumed that Senators need to raise a lot of money to run a campaign, but I didn't know it was THIS MUCH: $782 per hour. Here's the infographic from United Republic:
I can't get over these numbers: To run a campaign for Senator, you need to raise $782 PER HOUR for six years. There is no mystery as to why the system is so corrupt. Even the consciences of most good-hearted people will wilt in this terrible environment.
Do you care about saving your Democracy even one-tenth as much as you care about the Olympics, or going to the movies, or eating your favorite food? I challenge you to spend five minutes watching this video by Bill Moyers, and then acting on it like you really and truly give a damn. It's time to take back America. [Addendum] A friend watched this video, but asked "What can we do about this?" Here's what I suggested: Good question. For starters, we need to make a LOT of noise. Let's embarrass politicians for their inaction. Any time we have contact with politicians in public places, we need advocate for public financing of campaigns and for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United. Raise this topic with friends and family who would rather talk about movies and sports. Educate them one by one as to what is at stake. We can support great organizations such as Common Cause, Public Citizen and United Republic. Support media reform by supporting organizations such as Free Press (I attend their annual conferences) Here are some of the many candidates for an Amendment to the Constitution. http://unitedrepublic.org/amendments-guide/ For further inspiration, watch this short video featuring Dylan Ratigan and his guests from United Republic.
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The following excerpt is from the "Ideas" list from the July/August 2012 issue of The Atlantic:
During the 1950s and ’60s, financial institutions were tightly regulated. Bankers did not make money by trading for their own account but instead earned fees for providing advice to their customers and serving as a go-between for companies raising capital. Their goal was to get to know their clients well, understand their problems, and act in their best interests—somewhat like family doctors. They were not compensated absurd amounts. Wall Street was viewed as a place not for high flyers but for sober, cautious people who were perhaps a little boring. Meanwhile, the economy boomed and we had very few financial crises. Let us hope we are heading back to those days.
I wondered whether this would happen, and it is happening: Mitt Romney is representing far more than himself on the campaign trail. He has become the face that people are now associating with the 1%. Further, Romney's ideas and disconnectedness are going to deemed representative of the 1%. Romney and his friends are going to be seen as the people perceived as controlling Congress. As the America economy stays stagnant or sinks further, Mitt Romney's face is the face that people are going to associate with the destruction of the U.S. economy, and with the inability of Republicans to offer them anything other than the "free market." At this point, I'm wondering whether the Republican Convention is going to have the mood of a funeral. Nonetheless, some polls show Romney neck in neck with Obama, but I suspect that the existence of secret overseas bank accounts is a wound that's going to keep on bleeding all the way to election day, along with the fact that Romney is out there criticizing what is essentially his own health care plan. These are two non-starters for a man who will repeatedly remind many Americans of the guy that fired them and who doesn't give a shit about them.
This insane statement about the US Military action in Afghanistan (where we blow $2 Billion/Week) was made by a senior adviser to Mitt Romney:
A senior adviser to Mitt Romney declined to provide more specific details on the presumptive GOP nominee's plan for Afghanistan on Thursday, saying it was a distraction from what "real Americans want to talk about."