Charles Pierce: Bush donor argues that Plato wanted Super PACs

[muriel_volestrangler]

I don't read USA TODAY as often as I should anymore. I lost touch when they killed Larry King's column and started running fewer pie charts. In this, it appears, I have been wrong, because while I was away, the newspaper apparently added a humor section, and this is one of the funniest damn things I ever read.

In The Republic, Plato warned of the dangers of unchecked democracy, in that it can open the door to chaos, tyrants and demagogues. It is an apt warning in the midst of one of the muddiest campaign cycles in American history. Plato's caution was that democracy is vulnerable to the manipulation of those who care more for personal power than public good. There's a lesson in here in how Americans fund political campaigns.

Damn straight. Oil up them tumbrels. Charles and David Koch, Art Pope, Foster Friess, Shelly Adelson: We have seats for you all on the way to the stocks in the town square. No, wait, what's that you say?

While this will probably not endear me to many voters, I spent this election fundraising for former Florida governor Jeb Bush. I put up a considerable amount from my own wallet and raised several million more for his super PAC. America, per Plato, faces a great moral question. Is this type of powerhouse fundraising corrupt? Does it serve the public good? Or does it contribute to an ethical decay that will ultimately lead to corruption, chaos and then tyranny? Americans should look closely at the impact of big money in politics. Some see it as a corrupting influence, a way of buying access to officials and politicians. Others see it as a stimulant that helps motivate citizens to do their civic duty.

OK, sport. Plato didn't say fck-all about campaign finance. As for the public good, the consistently insane state of North Carolina, courtesy of the state legislature Art Pope purchased, passed a law that is going to cost the state about a kajillion dollars in tourism and business spending. (Given his proclivities, Plato sure as hell wouldn't visit.) Mississippi is well on its way to the same damn thing, except even fewer people want to go there. Consequently, my answers to your two questions are, in order: No, and Fck Yes It Does. Then, I laugh.

Political donors can, despite the stigma, do some admirable things. They help hire eager younger staffers who are passionate about politics. They pay for mailers that remind people to vote. Donors make it possible for candidates to hire intelligent scholars who work on policy and ideas, allowing campaigns to harness the best minds America has to offer.

As is obvious from the level of this year's Republican presidential campaign.

But can't all this be done with small dollar donations? Isn't it nobler to take in $5 million from a million donors rather than $5 million from 5 donors? Perhaps. There's incredible virtue in the college student or retiree or construction worker who is willing to invest in our political process. But Americans also need to take a tough look at how these funds are solicited. And they must ask themselves where their donations go. The mechanics aren't pretty. Shaking millions of people by the ankles for five dollar donations is expensive. In the GOP field in particular, the small donor industry is something of a self-licking ice cream cone.

...
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a43725/campaign-finance-plato/

As Mr. Pierce alludes to in his blog, and is admitted right at the end of Hoffman's self-parody, "Al Hoffman Jr. served as ambassador to Portugal in the George W. Bush Administration". Well, I'm sure that was after a distinguished foreign service career, and ...

Al Hoffman, Jr. is an American real estate developer
...
Hoffman served as co-chair of George W. Bush's 2000 campaign for president, and also served as finance chair of the Republican National Committee and the chairman of Florida Governor Jeb Bush's re-election campaign.[2] Hoffman fundraised for John McCain's 2008 candidacy[3] and Mitt Romney's 2012 candidacy.[4] Hoffman donated $1 million to Right to Rise, a Super PAC supporting Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential candidacy.[5] Hoffman served as chairman of Marco Rubio's successful 2010 Senate candidacy, but tried to dissuade Rubio from running for president in 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Hoffman,_Jr.

Yes, that's right, he's arguing that buying the ambassadorship was a public good, because that's an efficient way to funnel money to oh-so-responsible political campaigns, and he obviously had good control of his candidate, otherwise why would he have got the prestigious job in return? There's nothing wrong with democracy that a bit of plutocracy can't fix. Plato said that. On Twitter. Honestly.

[dhill926]

1. K & R...

for a brilliant takedown...