
Why did Amazon spend $1.5m in Seattle's local elections? - pseudolus
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/09/us-democracy-politics-wealth-plutocracy-money
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oblib
"Campaign donations are a great investment. Stocks might only earn you 10%,
but controlling the government can multiply your investment unimaginably"

This should be on the front page here.

~~~
troydavis
> but controlling the government can multiply your investment unimaginably

This statement is ironic since Sawant ceded her vote to an unregistered, non-
reporting political party called "Socialist Alternative." Amazon may have
influence on Sawant's opponent (or may not - most of the money was spent
through unrelated PACs, not as contributions), but Sawant has an organization
actually controlling her vote outright.

Worse, the fact that a national party had binding control of her vote was
secret until a journalist discovered it

[https://sccinsight.com/2019/01/07/sa-
sawant/](https://sccinsight.com/2019/01/07/sa-sawant/) summarizes it well:

> You may be asking, “Is this really different from the way the Democratic or
> Republican Party works?” It is substantially different in two important
> ways:

> 1\. While members of a political party in a given legislative body self-
> organize to form a caucus to maximize the impact of their votes, neither the
> Democratic Party nor the Republican Party are themselves a caucus and they
> don’t dictate how elected officials will vote. Further, Democratic and
> Republican elected officials don’t pledge their accountability to the caucus
> or the party (if they did, there would be no need for a Democratic or
> Republican Whip), and some frequently split from their party’s caucus on
> particular issues important to their constituents. The parties also don’t
> run the offices of elected officials and hire and fire their staff. Voters
> expect their elected officials to be accountable to constituents, not to a
> private organization (political party or otherwise), and to make their own
> decisions.

> 2\. The Democratic and Republican Parties are registered at both the federal
> and state level as political parties. As such, they disclose their
> leadership and make regular financial disclosures. Also, anyone can join the
> Republican or Democratic Party; there is no required financial contribution,
> and no interview required in which one’s ideology is tested before being
> accepted as a party member. None of that is true for Socialist Alternative.

~~~
oblib
The fact is that candidates like Bernie Sanders and other progressives are not
"Socialists", and the policies they are campaigning on and for are "Democratic
Socialist" policies.

For you to purposely ignore that indicates you're either a fool or a
bullshitter. My money would be on your being a bullshitter.

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joeblow9999
uhh. is this a trick question.

It's no coincidence they spent little money until Seattle politicians started
coming after them.

