Re: Taking joy at the idea of DeSantis donors burning $100 million for nine delegates.
For a long time, I've shook my head at the idea of anyone donating really large sums of money to political campaigns, although I know many wealthy people see it as an investment. But something about seeing the idea of burning all this cash as schadenfreude struck me today. You see - that's OUR money. All of this money being spent has to come from somewhere. And these wealthy people - who have gone to great lengths to make sure we don't know who they are - run businesses the general public purchases stuff from.
A quick search for DeSantis donors revealed one - an executive with FedEx who hosted a fundraiser for him. Where does this guy get his money? A little from each of us who use FedEx to ship packages or make copies or use a computer in a pinch. And there are hundreds - thousands ? - of these business owners or executives who build political activism funding benefiting themselves into the cost of doing business and then make sure their customers don't know about it.
To the extent that they received the money in voluntary payment for goods or services rendered, that makes it their money, not "ours": I don't feel personally cheated.
I am appalled at the amoral waste, though. How many lives could $50 million for bombed-out civilians in Ukraine and $50 million for bombed-out kids in Gaza save right now? Those nine DeSantis delegates are going to be trailing blood at the convention, and it won't be from lab-grown meat.
I agree in the sense that what a person does with money earned is their business. Where I have a problem is that much of this money is dark, so the average consumer has no idea that in purchasing the goods or services, they're helping to fund this creeping authoritarianism. For example, many engaged people are aware that Wisconsin billionaires Dick & Elizabeth Uihlein are Trumpist GOP mega-donors. How many are aware that if they purchase shipping supplies from a U-Line catalog, they're helping to fund the end of democracy.
I admit, I'm far enough center-left to have donated to Bernie in 2016 and agree with the statement that every billionaire is an example of a policy failure, although I appreciate those who have taken The Giving Pledge. I live next to the Tijuana River and think about how much more good Elon Musk could have done with his $44 billion helping Tijuana build a functional sewage system instead of throwing it away on a social media network.
Re: Taking joy at the idea of DeSantis donors burning $100 million for nine delegates.
For a long time, I've shook my head at the idea of anyone donating really large sums of money to political campaigns, although I know many wealthy people see it as an investment. But something about seeing the idea of burning all this cash as schadenfreude struck me today. You see - that's OUR money. All of this money being spent has to come from somewhere. And these wealthy people - who have gone to great lengths to make sure we don't know who they are - run businesses the general public purchases stuff from.
A quick search for DeSantis donors revealed one - an executive with FedEx who hosted a fundraiser for him. Where does this guy get his money? A little from each of us who use FedEx to ship packages or make copies or use a computer in a pinch. And there are hundreds - thousands ? - of these business owners or executives who build political activism funding benefiting themselves into the cost of doing business and then make sure their customers don't know about it.
To the extent that they received the money in voluntary payment for goods or services rendered, that makes it their money, not "ours": I don't feel personally cheated.
I am appalled at the amoral waste, though. How many lives could $50 million for bombed-out civilians in Ukraine and $50 million for bombed-out kids in Gaza save right now? Those nine DeSantis delegates are going to be trailing blood at the convention, and it won't be from lab-grown meat.
The donors who gave that 100 million to DeSantis don't care about the bombed-out civilians in Ukraine and the bombed-out kids in Gaza.
They just want to make sure their tax cuts don't get rescinded.
I agree in the sense that what a person does with money earned is their business. Where I have a problem is that much of this money is dark, so the average consumer has no idea that in purchasing the goods or services, they're helping to fund this creeping authoritarianism. For example, many engaged people are aware that Wisconsin billionaires Dick & Elizabeth Uihlein are Trumpist GOP mega-donors. How many are aware that if they purchase shipping supplies from a U-Line catalog, they're helping to fund the end of democracy.
I admit, I'm far enough center-left to have donated to Bernie in 2016 and agree with the statement that every billionaire is an example of a policy failure, although I appreciate those who have taken The Giving Pledge. I live next to the Tijuana River and think about how much more good Elon Musk could have done with his $44 billion helping Tijuana build a functional sewage system instead of throwing it away on a social media network.