On: The US government has betrayed the internet. We n...

[twoodfin]

Well then we're safe, because campaign contributions to candidates in Federal elections in excess of $200 must be disclosed to the FEC:

http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/fecfeca.shtml#Disclosure

Corporations, labor unions and foreign nationals are also forbidden from donating to candidates' campaigns.

If you're thinking of Citizens United, it doesn't apply to elected officials "receiving money".

[jlgreco → twoodfin]

Re 'Super PACs not permitted to coordinate directly':

There is an important difference between "not permitted to" and "don't".

[twoodfin → jlgreco]

Again, if the original comment was meant to imply that candidates could legally receive significant quantities of money from anonymous sources to finance their campaigns, that's flat wrong.

I'm not sure what argument your comment is meant to respond to. Candidates and PACs sometimes run afoul of FEC regulations? Who's saying they don't? That's a big jump from a regime of legal anonymous direct contributions implied by the original comment.

[jlgreco → twoodfin]

Legalities are irrelevant, what is important is the reality of the system. Widespread illegal bribery with little to no enforcement is not a better situation to be in than widespread legal bribery; the situations are functionally equivalent.