| > Sure you do. You could buy shares. Oh, yeah, it's a great system if you're someone who has money. Most people don't. Representatives, on the other hand, can't exist without votes. Most of the money in politics is spent on convincing voters to vote for a particular rep, that's why money holds sway over politicians. But money in itself isn't actually going to get someone elected. And isn't it weird how the people who do get elected actually tend to be of at least vaguely similar political leanings to their constituents? If money was all it took, we'd have no issue electing hard-conservative anti-abortion fundamentalists in, say Chicago, as long as they had policies that their donors found appealing. (Or, conversely, socially progressive, economically regressive 'liberals' in the deep south.) As it turns out, money in elections can only shift the needle so much, and won't turn black into white. What it can do is pick a winner out of a lineup of similar candidates, where the margins are close enough that a bigger advertising war chest will move the needle... And even then, all of those campaigns are only possible by ground-canvassing volunteers, who are motivated ideologically, not financially. |