well, the idea here being that the plurality of the candidates are financed by the voter base, meaning the funds are a "representation" of democracy (in reality, probably only Bernie's financed this way). Sad that's the case, but it's what Citizens United left us with.
Tonight we'll see of Bloomie has any balls. Will he smack down Bernie as a do nothing commie who has do nothing but piss and moan for his entire life while feeding at the government trough? Will he bitch slap Warren as a disingenuous old broad who was paid 400K to teach one class and then bitch about the high cost of college tuition? Will he fight back pointing out that NYC worked and was relatively safe under his command? Will he let people know he's the only guy on the stage who has ever accomplished anything of significance in the business world? Or will he be a pussy and spend all night apologizing for being successful and white?
I understand that point but it means that you only represent people when they give you money....so back to the lobby power in a way. Trump and Bloomie both say don't worry about giving me money, keep your money as you need it more than throwing it away on ads and private planes of candidates and I will represent you still. You cannot say you don't take money from special interests and ignore the fact that bernie screams how much money he is raising from the average citizen who in his mind is the lower class worker. Money is not votes so Bloomie is not buying the election, he is just not fleecing americans for millions in donations that get pissed away on nothing.
And to think...Bernie's last heart attack was during his campaign. So his supporters paid for his health care. If he gets elected with all the money he is taking from the voters' pockets, and had another heart attack? They'll be paying twice for his health-care, and twice more for their own health-care. He sure is a man of the people.
Well, problem is I doubt that's how it was originally envisioned, so the candidates have to play the hand they're dealt with. It's disingenuous to say that candidates won't represent those who don't give you money. You can't represent the people if you can't reach them, and you can't reach them w/o money in today's "democracy". Money may not be votes, but it's a semi-accurate representation of support if you're tracking individual donations. I think the original argument was that he's buying his way "into" the election, and as I explained above, I don't see how you'd argue he isn't. Point is, all this would be a non-issue if campaigns were publicly funded, each candidate got an equal sum, & private money was barred. The right would scream at the wind that it's socialist and "redistributing" wealth so it'll likely never happen.
What they are doing is buying votes the old-fashioned way -- by promising free everything for everyone (unless you already have anything).
Mike Bloomberg got hit pretty hard in last night's debate. I think more people saw him as an empty suit. His best quips of the night is calling out Bernie Sanders as the millionaire with 3 houses. Also, when asked about his monies, he said, he earned it and deserved it. His best moments the entire night. Pretty much, he wimped out on the other issues including, stop and frisk. He said it cut shootings from 700 shootings to 300 shootings yet, he apologized for it? Totally, a wimpy move. His paid sycophants in liberal media will continue to fluff him but, if it is the best he can do, he is in big trouble. He has not even been asked about his desire to confiscate guns contrary to the 2nd amendment?
Mostly as a result of a set of bullshit moderators. What an affront to the people of Las Vegas -the site of a major mass shooting- to not even bring up the issue of gun control other than some of the candidates listing it as one of many issues. But the moderators did not drive any discussion. I can only assume that it is because the lefty moderators are in the tank for the dems and think it is better to not have the people of nevada here their answers and thereby help trump.