Is This Progress? This Is Progress.

What Is Kaputall?

Oxford defines Kaput as "broken and useless; no longer working or effective" - similar to our unbalanced economic system. This is a page dedicated to the intersection of capitalism and social, political, and environmental problems.

Sunday 27 December 2015

Funding Caps

158 groups have provided the funding for fifty per cent of the money raised for the campaigns of all the Democrat and Republican candidates in the US primaries. There is something patently wrong with the rules governing how money can be contributed to campaigns in America.

Having worked on several NDP campaigns, I'm aware of how controlled contributions are in Canada. It is understood that anyone making that substantial of an infusion in a political movement is essentially looking to make an investment. Self-interested individuals and groups making contributions would, in and of itself, be irrelevant if everyone were able to attain equal influence. When those who are ultra-wealthy are able to donate massive sums and outspend the remaining 99 per cent of the population, they are eroding democracy.

Modern democracy relies on constant cash. Big money in politics is a problem in every sense of the word. However there is a seeming lack of interest in changing the way this works. Consider as well that in the United States anyone can start a PAC and the funding regulations for these are truly the wild west.

Given that we are in the middle of the American primaries and that the ability of a candidate to endure is based on cash, how money is donated in the next six months or so is going to have a massive impact on the who will be governing come November.

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