Purchasing Political Power

WEALTHY PEOPLE TEND to be politically conservative. We all see the world through our own filters, and when we like what we see, we have less desire to change it. Its far easier for the affluent to look around and like what they see. With so many more poor than wealthy people in America, its somehow surprising that the liberal conservative split is about fifty fifty. You might expect a higher percentage of the population to favor fundamental change, progressivism. All political scientists have always known that the masses of poor in any democracy have the potential to make the rules and the slant them to the benefit of the poor, and the fact that they have not done so to any great degree demonstrates that people who are not affluent often do not advocate for their own best interests. Since 2010 we have entered an era in which money purchases political power more easily and directly then ever, and its always, to a degree, been for sale. Most conservative members of the nation's legislative bodies were elected by paying for their election with the money of extremely wealthy benefactors. In a free market economy it is not always fair or intellectually sound to criticize the wealthy merely for being wealthy. If you work hard and make good decisions you should have the right to enjoy the benefits of your own efforts. But under no conditions should a person of great wealth have more political power, or access to political power than anyone else, and that is the overarching problem with America society; not that the rich have more wealth, but that they have more political power, if they choose to use it, than those with less wealth. And this is never how it was intended, or, if it was intended, is not how it should be. The founders of the American political system were wealthy men who believed that since the wealthy had more at stake in society, had more to lose, that they should have more influence in the political process. but the founders were not perfect, and they may have overlooked one important fact; even the poor have their own lives at stake, and their own well being to protect, just like the wealthy.