I'm getting a certain sense of déjà vu. Every two years, I see the craziness swirling around the impending election, as if a tornado is bearing down on our house, with the leaves kicking up and debris scattering hither and yon... We wake up on Wed morning to see if our house is still standing, and feel - regardless of the results - a certain sense of relief that it is over. Every year I think: "good gawd - I've never seen the craziness THIS bad before", and every year I think it can't get any worse...

... and every year I am wrong.

This year we've got witches, Aqua Buddha, animal porn, stompings, militia arrests, violence (and allusions to "2nd amendment remedies"), and enough under-qualified candidates in line for higher office to send a chill down the spines of any reasonable citizen who hopes our government will be run by the best and brightest. How is it that so many races are so close when one of the candidates is clearly unfit for public office?

In a word: money.

American politics has degenerated from a debate over ideas into a shout-fest, and the person that shouts the loudest and most often - regardless of the truth, regardless of the message - is often the winner. And - as we all know - nothing talks louder than cold hard cash. How much cash? The estimate for this year (a non-presidential election year at that) is 4 BILLION DOLLARS:

The liberal side of me wonders about all the good that much money could do: feeding the hungry, housing the poor, educating children... I know that money spent on campaigns provides jobs, so it does go back into the economy. But it's a lot of money creating a lot of negative energy. We can thank the recent Supreme Court ruling for the large influx of anonymous corporate money.

Where is all the money coming from and who controls it? After all - it seems like a lot of money being spent on jobs that don't pay nearly enough to create anywhere near that kind of payout... Well - the reality is that certain large industries can make or lose fortunes based on legislation that gets passed, so it's in their best interests to have politicians in office that are looking out for - yes - their best interests.

The answers may be surprising to those who don't normally take the time to scratch very far beneath the surface. Hiding behind PACs with benign names and groups that purport to be "grass roots" are a few very well-connected political operatives and business leaders. I can't embed it, so take a look at this diagram which shows just one part of this web; it's very incestuous.

There's also the Tea Party. Purporting to be a "grass roots" organization of "real people", it is also a front for a few well-connected groups, such as FOX News and the Koch brothers:

There is a LOT more at the article. You owe it to yourself to find out more about this handful of men who control so much of America's money and power. How ironic is it that a rich corporate entity is behind a movement that thinks it is grass-roots and anti-corporate control?

This is why serious campaign finance reform is so important. In the meantime, there are certainly plenty of reasons to vote for one candidate over another, especially when it comes to ideologies. This is my last blog before the election, and I want to ask all my readers on the left and on the right: When you go to vote, please consider more than the candidates party affiliation. Please take the time to see if the claim in that ad that upset you is really true. Please consider which candidate is going to be smart and honest and do the right thing, rather than demagogue and take partisan positions that will assure them reelection.

Money talks, and it has been screaming in your ears and shoving it's unholy message into your eyes for weeks now (and will over the next 4 days). Don't let money be the winner in this election.