Firetree is dedicated to analytic discussions of issues from the liberal point of view.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
WHY SO MANY CANDIDATES
A fundamental question is why are there so many Republican candidates running for the presidency of the United States. The question is not what they stand for or what they would do as president but a more basic why so many. I think the answer is that being a candidate has become a good business. The Supreme Court’s Citizen ill-advised ‘Citizens United’ decision coupled with the Republican congress voting to cripple the Federal Election Commission by defunding is a crippling combination. In addition, the 504C tax dodge perfected by Karl Rove has made running for high political office moneymaking propositions. It is the equivalent of colleCting tax-free money for charity in a non-regulated environment.
Politics aside, in the current election environment each candidate has the potential of becoming a millionaire. Like any other good business opportunity opening up, candidates will saturate the market just as entrepreneurs will over saturate the market. However, I think we can sort out candidates in respect to this. For example, perpetual candidate Donald Trump, the modern version of Minnesota’s Harold Stassen, is in it for notoriety; he has all the money he needs but needs the notoriety more. Of the other 22 or so candidates, only Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, and Scott Walker seem driven to the point of running by their political ideologies plus the need for notoriety. Senator Bernie Saunders is their Democratic equivalent. Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum presents themselves as religious drive nuts; however, the driving force is money.
Specifically, those driven by political ideology but lack the hunger thus lack the lust, for the power of the presidency; therefore, would run for president driven by a combination of political ideology and lust for money.
Ted Cruz Lindsey Graham
Marco Rubio Nikki Haley
Chris Christie Peter King
Among the others who would probably not run if there wasn’t the potential to become rich by doing so includes:
Kelly Ayotte John Kasich
Ben Carson Susana Martinez
Mitch Daniels Mike Pence
Carly Fiorina Rick Perry
Bobby Jindal Bryon Sandoval
In the background is the combination of a sufficiently strong need for notoriety needed to overcome innate shyness of many people, which is common to all politicians; thus, is common to all those I named in this blog post.
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