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A LITTLE RAIN ON HILLARY'S PARADE
April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain: T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
The early spring rain of huge financial contributions has stirred the dull roots of the Clinton campaign ~ breeding lilacs out of the dead political landscape, mixing memory and desire but a closer look is warranted ~ at the risk of casting some cruel cold rain on Hillary's parade.
The Color Of Money had all the answers I was seeking for the cruel rain falling on Hillary's campaign is that most of her contributions are coming from less than one percent of the country's population ~ and specifically zip codes in New York, Washington and Los Angeles.
Sam Smith, The Progressive Review, put it all in a nice readable package .
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/04/03.html
THE BRIBERY THAT DARES NOT SAY ITS NAME
Sam Smith
Progressive Review / 4/02/07
The conventional media has treated the obscene amounts of contributions already received by Democratic presidential candidates as a good sign of their relative popularity, ignoring the purpose of many of these contributions, namely to bribe a public office holder(albeit legally under today's laws)to do their bidding.
The amount reported was $53 million. To get some idea of where such money comes from, we went back to the 2004 campaign and checked the 50 largest zip codes, which contributed about $50 million to both parties, nearly 15% of all contributions of $200 and over. 30 of these 50 zip codes were in the New York City, Washington and Los Angeles area.
Only 1.5 million people lived there or less than one percent of the country's population.
COLOR OF MONEY, 2004 REPORT http://www.colorofmoney.org/com_2003.html
- The top contributing zip code to all presidential campaigns - including both the Bush and Kerry campaigns - was 10021, on Manhattan's exclusive Upper East Side, which was the source of $4.2 million. . . Some 86.4% of the zip code's 91,514 adult residents are non-Hispanic white, and nearly 40% of the households enjoy incomes of $100,000 or more. In contrast, the zip code 10035, just a few miles away in Harlem, was the source of just $1,000 and $2,750, respectively, for Sen. Edwards and Sen. Kerry .
- [There are] 377 zip codes nationwide with the largest percentage of African Americans, containing a total of 6.9 million people ages 18 and over, 75 times more people than live in 10021;
- [There are] 365 zip codes nationwide with the largest percentage of Latino Americans, containing a total of 8.1 million people ages 18 and over, 89 times more people than live in 10021
In this country, a candidate running for a high office knows that in order to win the election, he or she first must win the "wealth primary." Candidates who raise a lot of cash early are considered "viable." Those who don't, aren't, and often the media simply write those candidates out of the picture. . .
When the narrow donor class is privileged with choosing who ultimately runs for and who wins office, then people of color and the less well-off are largely left out, as if they were subject to an insidious poll tax.
Dauntless OpEd columnist Allen L Roland is available for interviews. ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on Conscious talk radio www.conscioustalk.net
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