Remember back a few months to the last election. The Democrats were up in arms over the fact that the GOP was making use of [independent] political action committees who regularly concealed their donors -- courtesy of the Citizens United decision. President Obama made a great point at decrying this practice and declared that it was important to democracy to know who is impacting the election process.
Sadly, as most people should know, politicians tend to be among the greatest hypocrites the world has ever known. After spending most of the past year denouncing this strategy of non-transparency, guess who is setting up their own similar political action committees?
Naturally, when called out on their about-face, the Democrats are falling back on that age-old adage: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Hey, it's legal, they cry. We're simply using current law to our advantage.
On a pragmatic level, it is a good strategy. We all know the GOP will use these committees to the hilt in 2012. If the Dems hope to retain the presidency and make gains in Congress, you sometimes need to fight fire with fire.
But on an ethical level, it stinks. If you believe it was wrong last time around, it will be just as wrong this time around and, even worse, you will be one of the guilty parties. You will also be rightly accused of being supreme hypocrites and you can't really defend yourselves from this accusation because it's TRUE.
Sadly, as most people should know, politicians tend to be among the greatest hypocrites the world has ever known. After spending most of the past year denouncing this strategy of non-transparency, guess who is setting up their own similar political action committees?
Naturally, when called out on their about-face, the Democrats are falling back on that age-old adage: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Hey, it's legal, they cry. We're simply using current law to our advantage.
On a pragmatic level, it is a good strategy. We all know the GOP will use these committees to the hilt in 2012. If the Dems hope to retain the presidency and make gains in Congress, you sometimes need to fight fire with fire.
But on an ethical level, it stinks. If you believe it was wrong last time around, it will be just as wrong this time around and, even worse, you will be one of the guilty parties. You will also be rightly accused of being supreme hypocrites and you can't really defend yourselves from this accusation because it's TRUE.
Ethics? Since when did that have anything to do with our electoral process?
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