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Big Money in Control of Politics

Brett C. George

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Big Money in Control of Politics

Did you prepare for voting in the 2008 Presidential Election by watching the televised

debates? If you answered yes, were you given enough information from each candidate on your

states ballot to make a responsible decision? The answer is no. In fact, you only saw the

viewpoints of the two major party candidates, Senator Barak Obama and Senator John McCain.

The truth is that six candidates were on the ballot in enough states to mathematically win a

majority of Electoral College votes in the election. According to Center for Responsive Politics

(2009), those participants left out were Ralph Nader-Independent, Bob Barr-Libertarian, Chuck

Baldwin-Constitution Party, and Cynthia McKinney-Green Party. So why were Sen. Obama and

Sen. McCain the only participants in the televised debates for the highest office in the United

States Government? The answer is the disparity between the Commission on Presidential

Debates requirements for participating in these debates, the amount of campaign finance for each

candidate, and the unfair gate-keeping of an irresponsible media.

Who is allowed to participate in the National Presidential Debates is determined by the

Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). According to the CPD's 2008 Non-Partisan

Selection Criteria for participating in the national debates, an individual candidate must show

evidence of Constitutional eligibility to run for the office of President, show evidence of ballot

success (i.e. a mathematical chance of winning a majority of electoral votes), and have indicators

of electoral support (i.e. candidates need support of at least 15 percent of national electorate)

(Commission on Presidential Debates, 2007). All of the six candidates I have discussed so far

qualified under the first two criteria, but only the two major party candidates made the third and

final cut. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Taking a look at how the indicators of electoral support

figures are calculated gives us our answer.

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Electoral support is determined by five selected national public opinion polling

organizations. The CPD uses the average of these five organizations most recently published

polls to determine who will participate in the National Debates (Commission on Presidential

Debates, 2007). Clearly, the candidates who are the most visible to the general public stand to

benefit from these national polling efforts, as the majority of those surveyed have had purposeful

bombardment by media, for the two richest candidates, and very limited exposure to the smaller,

more financially challenged other four major candidates.

The 2008 Presidential election saw record numbers for campaign spending. According to

Center for Responsive Politics (2009), Sen. Obama took home top honors in this fiscal

irresponsibility, spending 730 million U.S. dollars on his campaign!! Sen. McCain did his best to

keep up with his fellow White House hopeful, spending 333 million respectively. The other four

candidates fell drastically short with a total of 5.35 million spent combined!!!!! This disparity of

financial backing amongst the candidates is deplorable! The spending frenzy of major parties in

Presidential elections is representative of the hoggishness that is the elitist class of white collar

politics. With these funds at their disposal, the richest of the candidates get the most exposure

through advertising among the various media outlets.

Mass media has many forms. Television, radio, magazines, and billboards are just a few

examples of mass media. These forms of communication run advertisements for a predetermined

price, based on visibility. The cost of becoming "visible" to the general public is how media

participates in the unfair gate-keeping of modern politics. For example, we will look at a

hypothetical scenario where television stations charge 1,000 U.S. dollars for one 30 second ad

during its on-air broadcasts. Barak Obama would have been able to purchase 730,000 ads on this

station during the election year. That is 2,000 ads per day!! McCain could have purchased 912

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ads each day. The other four candidates could purchase only 14 ads per day between them. That

total gives each candidate, at best, three and a half ads each day to gain exposure through paid

media advertising. Just to put those figures into perspective, at that price, Obama's commercial

could run approximately once every 90 seconds, while one of the four financially challenged

candidates commercials is seen approximately once every 823 minutes!! Like I said before,

deplorable!! This unfair gate-keeping by an irresponsible media leads to the exclusion of

mathematically eligible candidates from the televised National Presidential Debates.

In conclusion, it is through the disparity between the Commission on Presidential

Debates requirements for participating in these debates, the amount of campaign finance for each

candidate, and the unfair gate-keeping of an irresponsible media that keep the average American

uninformed of their options for leadership. In a country where the founding principles are based

on all men being created equal, it would seem a shameful act to exclude anyone their right to be

heard based on the size of their wallet.

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References

Center for Responsive Politics. (2009). Banking on becoming president. retrieved October 4,

2009, from http://www.opensecrets.org

Commission on Presidential Debates. (2007). Candidate selection process. retrieved October 4,

2009, from http://www.debates.org