It’s Not the Dark; It’s the Money

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I held my tongue for the past few months, so as not to step on the Democrats’ messaging during this campaign.

But the intense focus on the source of conservative funding is, to me, idiotic. So, on last night’s comment thread, I asked if it was the dark, or the money, that was the problem.

The root problem here is not campaign spending, it’s voter ignorance. If voters really knew what was going on, they wouldn’t respond to 30 second ads the way they do. Chris Hedges refers to this phenomenon as the illiterate majority. He notes that half of our college grads go years without reading a book once they enter the working world. Take a guess how often their less educated counterparts open a book, or even a newspaper.

Here’s how bad it gets. I saw an ad attacking Ann Kirkpatrick for voting to raise the debt ceiling. Yes, Ann won. But whoever ran that ad focus group tested it first, and the message was effective.

I don’t watch much TV, so I’m guessing there were even worse examples out there.

If voters are ignorant enough to be influenced by absolutely absurd ads, according to what logic would making the identity of the funder available to them  change that result?

To ask that question is to answer it. There is no logic supporting the belief of those on the left that shining a light on the source of the money behind the ads will have a meaningful effect. That belief is no less absurd than the message in the ads to which the ignorant American public is responding.

So, across the spectrum, we have Americans believing absurdity.

Which brings into play Voltaire’s observation: “If you can get people to believe absurdities, you can get them to commit atrocities.” Stay tuned.

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4 thoughts on “It’s Not the Dark; It’s the Money”

  1. I think you are correct, Bob, but I don’t think you are going to convince many of your accolytes that dark money wasn’t an issue.

  2. “If voters really knew what was going on, they wouldn’t respond to 30 second ads the way they do. Chris Hedges refers to this phenomenon as the illiterate majority.”

    Thank you for explaining so well why Barack Obama was re-elected as President two years ago.

  3. It was not dark money that kept hispanics from voting democrat it was trying to appeal to republicans instead of hispanics by rich old white men.

    • So you have said many times before. Tell me, what did you accomplish by not voting because your feelings were hurt? Don’t get me wrong, I am delighted with the outcome, but you sound so offended I am just curious what good you think was acheived by not voting because no one buttered you up and bought your vote.

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