Wealthy Controlling Politics - Oligarchy

Conservatives would have you believe that liberals are all communists and offended by wealth. I can tell you I don’t have a problem with rich people, I do have a problem with rich people who use their money to control our government. That’s why I’ve long supported public campaign financing or at least reasonable limits on how much any individual or group can donate to a political campaign. Frankly I’d like to see a campaign donations limited to just the people who live in the district that the candidate is running in since I don’t think my elected officials should be beholden to anyone but the people they represent.

Did you know that in Texas there is no limit to how much can be donated any political campaign by a single person, that goes from the office of Governor all the way down to city council or school board? That means some oil billionaire from west Texas can finance the campaign of a school board candidate right in your town. It happens all the time and has had consequences like firing a school principal that was perceived as not adhering to the billionaire’s agenda.

Many voters don’t know that all candidates whether city council, county commissioner or all the way to governor are required to file campaign finance reports showing who their donors are and how much each donor gave and those reports are public record. I’d advise you to take a look at them for every candidate before you vote so you know who is influencing your elected officials.

Retiring Texas Senator (R), Kel Seliger, has compared the state of affairs here in Texas to the Russian Oligarchy because two Texas billionaires essentially control the state legislature by using their vast wealth to fund political campaigns across the state often providing more than 80% of a candidate’s campaign budget. Even when their candidate loses in the primary they win because they have dragged the other candidate in their preferred direction.

These kinds of wealthy individuals don’t just make direct campaign donations, they also don’t millions to political action committees (PAC’s) and Super PAC’s that use innocuous names to obscure their true agenda to the public. Often Super PAC’s are created for the sole purpose of hiding the source of their funds so that the voters don’t know whose agenda they are working toward.

This is a national problem but there is a terrific story on what’s happening in Texas that was shown on CNN a few weeks ago and is now available on YouTube so you can watch it when you have time. Take 45 minute to watch Deep in the Pockets of Texas. The report covers Farris Wilks and Tim Dunn, how their money controls how legislators vote and what their agenda is. These two men aren’t content with just the legislature though and fund school board candidates and city council candidates all over the state as well as presidential candidates in order to further their agenda. The two billionaires’ agenda is just a scary as using wealth to advance that agenda.

For the record, I’m no happier about billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros making big donations to Democratic candidates than I am Wilks, Dunn, and others making huge contributions to Republican candidates.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 31, 2022