What Bernie Sanders misses about the rise in campaign cash

New York Post ^ | January 20, 2016 | John R Lott Jr

[richardb72]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders thinks that millionaires and billionaries buy elections.

He hammered away during Sunday’s Democratic debate, complaining about people “pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process.” According to estimates made by the Center for Responsive Politics, $3.77 billion was spent on elections for federal office during the 2014 midterms.

Sanders blames this on the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, prohibiting the government from restricting independent political spending by unions, corporations and advocacy groups. But the growth rate in campaign spending long predates that case, and has actually slowed down since that decision.

There was only a 4 percent increase in spending from the 2010 to the 2014 midterm elections. So much for Sanders’ “explosion.”

In fact, this rate of growth was unusually small — much smaller than the 31 percent average growth that usually took place between midterm congressional elections from 1998 to 2010.

So what really causes political spending to increase over time? The answer won’t make Sanders very happy.

The truth is that government expenditures and campaign expenditures have increased in tandem. Total campaign spending soared from $1.6 billion in 1998 to $3.77 billion in 2014. Federal government spending rose at virtually the same rate, going from $1.65 trillion to $3.9 trillion. . . .

For a discussion of how this is related to the gun control debate see: http://crimeresearch.org/2016/01/cprc-in-the-new-york-post-what-bernie-sanders-misses-about-the-rise-in-campaign-cash-and-why-that-is-related-to-the-gun-control-debate/

[Red Badger]

I wonder if he is against unions paying for political ads?......................

[RedWing9]

Just give me propaganda, I don’t care about no damn facts. ;)