JANUARY 13, 2020 – Overwhelmed by other political afflictions, we’ve surrendered to . . . the money. Last week each of the top four Democratic presidential campaigns announced staggering fourth-quarter contributions. Bernie led with $34.5 million, but that haul was surpassed overwhelmingly by Trump’s $46 million.
Yesterday’s edition of The New York Times included a report that Michael Bloomberg has already spend $200 million of his own money. That’s more than Obama spent on his entire 2012 campaign. Bloomberg reportedly said that even if he doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, he’s prepared to spend a billion on the 2020 presidential campaign—to defeat Trump.
Then there’s Steyer, the other billionaire. (In the cool light of day, Trump, I’m willing to bet, is not a billionaire.)
This is crazy and bad. It reminds me of a riveting speech I heard Senator Thomas Eagleton (McGovern’s first running mate) give 29 years ago.
He was the keynote speaker at the opening session of the 1991 Mondale Fellowship program at the Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota. I was a fellow that year, as was Amy Klobuchar. (As you might’ve heard, she’s now running for president, and I’m . . . not.)
The theme of that year’s fellowship was “Problems in American Politics.” Many political figures, political scientists, and political journalists of the day attended our sessions, engaged with us political geeks, shared meals and conversations with us, and dispersed. Each of us then had to write an essay, and the essays were then pulled together in a handsome compendium.
I remember three things about the experience: 1. Amy Klobuchar had ambitions; 2. Walter Mondale, who interacted a lot with us, spoke critically of Jimmy Carter’s unwillingness and inability to compromise; and 3. Eagleton’s speech.
By the time Eagleton concluded his heartfelt talk, I’d concluded that America had lost a highly capable public servant with extraordinary integrity, intelligence, and leadership ability.
He expressed harsh criticism of the staggering volumes of cash required to run American political campaigns. He said that as much as he’d wanted to connect with his constituents and represent them; as much as he’d wanted to study and understand our problems and help shape policy . . . every waking hour of every day of every week, month in and month out seemed to be stolen in whole or in part by the need to raise dough for the next campaign.
There came a day, he said, when he peered at himself in the mirror while shaving, looked himself in the eye, and said out loud, “I just can’t do this anymore! I just can’t be worried all the time about raising money all the time!”
That revelatory moment for Senator Eagleton occurred over three decades ago. And look at us now. Whether it’s a billion from one source or hundreds of millions from many sources, all this money has reduced our democracy to nothing different from a Coca-Cola advertising campaign.
Trump, Facebook, and Russian trolls and hackers are not the only threats to our country.
(Remember to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.)
© 2020 Eric Nilsson
