Vote-buying is "where the money's at." Those were words
recently spoken in my home state of Kentucky, by some who admitted to
knowing that the practice is illegal but as "everyday" as jaywalking.
(The Kentucky buyers interviewed were either serving time or awaiting
sentencing.) Obviously, money directly exchanged between individuals in
payment for votes is a crime. But how indirect (and still legal) can that exchange be before an election is compromised?
Across the country, votes are cast for politicians who, when members of the ruling majority, can do practically anything for anybody in most any way imaginable. (That reality was recently reinforced by some clever word-twisting in a famous Supreme Court ruling.) The president's powers also seem limitless -- at least this one is sure that yes, he can (and has so far gotten away with it) -- especially when "we can't wait" to git-r-done.
We could argue that the founders' original intentions, by granting general and limited federal powers in the Constitution, were to provide for things that benefit the entire country, in a somewhat indirect manner, such as our national defense. And we all do benefit from those things -- the people who pay for them with taxes as well as the other half of the population that does not.
Across the country, votes are cast for politicians who, when members of the ruling majority, can do practically anything for anybody in most any way imaginable. (That reality was recently reinforced by some clever word-twisting in a famous Supreme Court ruling.) The president's powers also seem limitless -- at least this one is sure that yes, he can (and has so far gotten away with it) -- especially when "we can't wait" to git-r-done.
We could argue that the founders' original intentions, by granting general and limited federal powers in the Constitution, were to provide for things that benefit the entire country, in a somewhat indirect manner, such as our national defense. And we all do benefit from those things -- the people who pay for them with taxes as well as the other half of the population that does not.
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