When do you stop being a democracy?

May21

Is the USA a democracy if your vote influences your “elected” leaders less than the money they receive from special interest?

At what point and by what metric marks that inflection? Is this a new type of democracy where votes are not per person but per dollar? Dollarocracy?

This is something I’ve been thinking on a lot lately, and wondering what a tipping point would mean for the country. The vast majority of people are totally disillusioned with politics, and it all seems to come back to the huge amount of money involved in the process. In the old days different political machines would buy votes and walk people to polls, how different is that then the modern practice of spending billions of dollars in secret super pacs that do media buys with 30 second of false information on both sides? Doesn’t seem like much of a difference.

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This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


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