Essay - Like Money in the Bank You Deposit Money in the...

Like Money in the Bank

***** deposit money in the bank. It earns interest. At the end of ***** year, you look at your statement, and you feel confident that you made a worthwhile investment. It's the same thing wit political investments. An ***** group spends a great deal ***** money to publicize its views, ***** come election time, if its candidate wins, it has ***** an excellent investment. Of course, the views of a special interest group may not be ***** views ***** the majority of voters. In fact, this is quite often the case. Millions of Americans favor gun control, or support a woman's right to choose, but few of these individuals have the kinds ***** resources at the their d*****posal as say a ***** like the N*****tional Rifle Association or the many pro-life religious organizations. Such influence peddling poses many questions regarding ***** nature of American democracy. If public *****ficials are bowing ***** the will of ***** biggest contri*****ors, ***** they truly acting according to the desires of their constituents, or even more importantly, are our officials choosing money over right?

In modern day America, it costs an enormous amount of money to get elected to national or statewide office. In 2002 alone, Democrats and Republicans spent somewhere in the neighborhood of one billion dollars on ***** various campaigns. This ********** both soft and hard m*****y, ********** the Republicans out-fundraising the Democrats in ***** money by ***** than two to one: $289 million for the *****, and $127 ***** for ***** Democrats. (Oppel, 2002) Television, radio, pr*****t, ***** Internet advertisements do ***** come cheap, and it is rare that a candidate can raise the sums necessary from individual supporters al*****. Candidates need well-heeled, organized groups to help them fill their war chests. These ***** not necessarily have to be ***** with extensive grassroots support. They may represent purely local or even very narrow corporate or sociopolitical concerns. Creationism is a big *****sue in Tennessee, but not in New York. Drilling for oil in National Parks ***** Alaskans but not Ohioans. In general, a *****'s st*****nd on environmental issues is of much greater concern to California voters, than to their counterparts in Texas. What matters ***** the battle for campaign funds is ***** the breadth of an organization's support, but ***** amount of money it can contribute to the ********** or the party.

*****, a group such as the National Rifle Association h***** managed for *****s to block most of the proposed federal regulations regarding gun *****. The NRA is indeed a l*****rge organization ***** many members spread across the country, however it is not the number ***** its members ***** gives it such great power in ***** leg*****lative arena. ***** matters is the ***** that it can ***** huge sums of *****. This money, in the form ***** generous ***** contributions, and gifts to sitt*****g senators and congressman, enables it to influence government policy out of all proportion ***** the number of people who either belong to