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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSo, what happened with Barney Frank...
Self-styled progressive Democrats like Barney Frank, for instance, was once (and still claims to be) an ardent supporter of campaign finance reform. He has acknowledged the corrupting nature of corporate money, and he has in the past been quick to ridicule those who believe that money has no effect on the political process.
"If it were the case that money had no influence on politicians", Frank once observed, "we'd be the only human beings in the history of the world who on a regular basis took significant amounts of money from perfect strangers and made sure that it had no effect on our behavior."
In other words, when a candidate insists that they are not influenced by corporate cash, they are peddling nonsense.
But in 2016, Barney Frank has changed his tune dramatically.
In an effort to justify his support for a candidate who has embraced the kind of fundraising schemes Democrats claim to repudiate, Frank has harshly criticized Bernie Sanders for engaging in what he, on one occasion, called "McCarthyism of the left."
Instead of criticizing Clinton for raising funds in a way that subverts the basic precepts of democracy, Frank has consciously chosen to direct his ire at Sanders, who has raised funds in principled, unprecedented, and inspiring ways.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Democrats-Against-Democrac-by-Common-Dreams-Corporate_Democrats_Money_Politics-160613-383.html
"If it were the case that money had no influence on politicians", Frank once observed, "we'd be the only human beings in the history of the world who on a regular basis took significant amounts of money from perfect strangers and made sure that it had no effect on our behavior."
In other words, when a candidate insists that they are not influenced by corporate cash, they are peddling nonsense.
But in 2016, Barney Frank has changed his tune dramatically.
In an effort to justify his support for a candidate who has embraced the kind of fundraising schemes Democrats claim to repudiate, Frank has harshly criticized Bernie Sanders for engaging in what he, on one occasion, called "McCarthyism of the left."
Instead of criticizing Clinton for raising funds in a way that subverts the basic precepts of democracy, Frank has consciously chosen to direct his ire at Sanders, who has raised funds in principled, unprecedented, and inspiring ways.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Democrats-Against-Democrac-by-Common-Dreams-Corporate_Democrats_Money_Politics-160613-383.html
...and the Democratic Party?
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So, what happened with Barney Frank... (Original Post)
NorthCarolina
Jun 2016
OP
We must end the legalized bribery of our elected officials if we want to solve our very real
Dustlawyer
Jun 2016
#3
aikoaiko
(34,165 posts)1. Barney wants to get paid.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)2. He became a banker...
Dustlawyer
(10,494 posts)3. We must end the legalized bribery of our elected officials if we want to solve our very real
problems. We need Publicly Funded Elections!
Broward
(1,976 posts)4. The Dem Party no longer serves the downtrodden.
Thanks to corporate sellouts like Barney Frank the Party has morphed into the Repub Party of 30 years ago.
RKP5637
(67,101 posts)5. It really is. Those not seeing it were possibly not in the party 30 years ago. I left and
became Unaffiliated/Independent, where the majority of US voters are today they're so fed up with both of the major parties. I didn't leave the democratic party, it left me!
Broward
(1,976 posts)6. I think the Dem Party will continue to bleed members.
More and more people are waking up.
RKP5637
(67,101 posts)8. The dem PTB seem disconnected from what's going on in American today. n/t
disillusioned73
(2,872 posts)7. A whole lot..
of disappointing so-called "progressives" this primary..