Campaign cash from "weirdo billionaires"
/Last night at the Oscars, Director Adam McKay had this to say to American voters:
"If you don't want big money to control government, don't vote for candidates that take money from big banks, oil, or weirdo billionaires. Stop."
McKay was the head writer for Saturday Night Live and has been an actor and stand-up comedian. He won an Oscar last night for his movie, The Big Short, based on the book of the same name about the financial crisis of 2007–08, which triggered the Great Recession.
McKay is spot on. Rich people and corporations have been piling up profits since the Reagan Revolution and the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United has allowed them to use those profits to create a designer world that benefits them and reflect their values. The establishment of both Democrats and Republicans reflects those values.
Since the 1980's, cultural conservatives have often voted against their economic self-interest because they believed the Republicans they were voting for represented their cultural values. That ended up being great for the "weirdo billionaire" class but not for traditionalists. Conservatives have watched as the votes they gave to elect Republicans to office were trumped by "weirdo billionaire" money and then turned against them.
That's right, these "weirdo billionaires" used the votes of cultural conservatives to elect politicians who made them richer. Then, once they had so much disposable income they didn't know what to do with it, they used their money to screw cultural conservatives and remake the world in their image.
"Vulture capitalist" Paul Singer is a prime example. He's a Republican worth $2.1 billion, owns a hedge fund, and has his own foundation. He is one of the biggest donors to Republicans in America. After his son said he was gay, Singer got involved in promoting same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues. Singer is best remembered for his "purchase" of a group of Republican State Senators in New York who Singer had flip from con to pro same-sex marriage. All later lost campaigns for re-election. Singer started his own super PAC. According to the New York Times, the PAC's "sole mission will be to encourage Republican candidates to support same-sex marriage." He's also kicked-in about $10million to other LGBT groups.
Hey, how many cultural conservatives support a millionaires tax? How many support taxing the profits of hedge funds at a 91 percent rate like they had back in the 1950's? Maybe it is time for cultural conservatives to give these "weirdo billionaires" a taste?
Without the votes of cultural conservatives, there would be no Republican Congress and Al Gore would have been elected President in 2000. Without the votes of cultural conservatives, Paul Singer wouldn't have the disposable income to use against cultural conservatives.
Liberal Democrats like to go on and on about the Koch brothers when the truth is that David Koch supported same-sex marriage in 1980 -- way before any major Democrat even considered supporting it. Koch isn't a cultural conservative, he's just another one of those "weirdo billionaires" we've been warned about.
These "weirdo billionaires" get low tax rates, special tax breaks, corporate welfare, and crony deals. They are allowed to ship jobs overseas and open the borders to drive down the cost of labor. They get to make billions off wrecking the economy -- then they go to Congress and get a tax-payer funded bailout so they don't miss their yearly bonus payments. Cultural conservatives aren't even allowed to bake a cake in peace.
Maybe it is time for cultural conservatives to wake up, realize that they've been screwed, and start voting strategically?
