The Silent Majority

This story should speak for itself but in the event that no one is listening I shall amplify the message. This exemplifies what is wrong with American politics.

First: It’s not the manner in which you govern or even which party you happen to represent at the moment; its how much money you have. Politics is now reserved for the rich elitists effectively excluding the majority of the population from contention.

Second (and more importantly): If the rules (translated the will of the voters) get in your way; change them. The voters of New York voted in term limits which were overturned by the city council (other rich politicians).

New York serves as an example for all that is wrong with our political system. Money and cronyism have replaced the will of the voter. Bloomberg is willing to do anything at all to retain power including changing parties on a whim; spending millions of dollars to buy votes and changing the rules of the game to suit his needs.

I do not expect the liberal bastion of New York to take note, steeped in progressivism as they are, but I would hope the rest of America is watching and remembering.

The following story is the impetus for the preceding rant:


NYC’s Bloomberg spent $183 per vote


Billionaire mayor funded costliest campaign in municipal history, NYT says
NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's narrower-than-expected reelection campaign cost the billionaire some $102 million, or about $183 per vote, The New York Times reported on Friday evening, making him the top-spending self-financed politician in U.S. history.


Data on the mayoral election released on Friday found Bloomberg's run for a third term in office, which required special legislation overturning a city law that held the mayor to a maximum of two terms, was the most expensive campaign in municipal history, the Times said.


Bloomberg, the richest man in a city with no shortage of millionaires, surpassed past campaign expenditures of $85 million in 2005 and $74 million in 2001, the report said.
The spending continued until the election's final hours, as Bloomberg's campaign placed prerecorded calls shortly before polls closed in which the mayor implored voters to go out and vote for him.


Bloomberg defeated city comptroller William Thompson by fewer than five percentage points, a margin far smaller than polls had predicted, after he pressed the City Council to change the city's voter-approved term-limits law last year to allow him to run for a third term.