The Monkey Cage comments on a recent article in the NYT which points out how money influences elections, government and public policy in general. They are each worth readings in full, the NYT article for its detail.
The former lists these four specifics influences which may be worth commiting to memory.
Money influences politics by:
■ Affecting who wins a general election;
■ Affecting who wins the nomination, and which candidates are taken seriously (for example, parties are always on the lookout for self-funded candidates, rich people who happen to share the political views of party activists and would like to run for office);
■ Affecting particular bills (estate tax, health care, etc);
■ Affecting officeholders’ priorities (congressmembers are always talking about how much time they feel they need to spend on the phone, begging for money).
