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Tuesday 15 May 2012

Make Yours His Story

In the US, each private individual is allowed to donate up to $2,500 to as many political candidates as he or she chooses this year. If you like, you can give each presidential candidate two-and-a-half grand. You know, if you wanna be fair.

I assume anyone contributing that amount to a political campaign is doing so with the hope that their bread will, however modestly, feed the poor indirectly influence the outcome of the election. How many votes do you suppose $2,500 would buy?

How many campaign posters would it take, for example, before somebody said, "Hey, that's my guy!" who hadn't already? How many of the several million viewers of Hawaii Five-O (seriously, it's a show again, I looked it up) would be moved to grease the screen for the proantagonist of a television ad that cost at least six figures to reel them in?

I don't know. But if I were gonna give somebody my monetary support, I'd want a breakdown of what it would get me, and I don't mean a sporty Bo Ramney tote bag to carry with to Trader Joe's. I mean, like, those "and for this amount you can feed a child for twenty-eight minutes" kind of things. "Donate to this PAC now and we'll guarantee Arizona!" for example.

I'll tell you what, though: For likely much less than the allowed max, I'm all yours.*


*fake marriage licenses sold separately

₫-mar-kr-€-C$-¥, part 6 << -- >> ₫-mar-kr-€-C$-¥, part 8