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America makes its choice two weeks from tomorrow.
It’s not really a choice between two parties. After all, a record 45%t of American voters now call themselves “independent” and don’t align with either party. And most of us who still describe ourselves as Republicans or Democrats don’t have much love for whichever party we’re registered with.
Nor will it be a choice between the “left” and the “right,” as those terms have been used for the last half-century - representing preferences by the left for more and bigger social safety nets and by the right for lower taxes. These days, big business wants more government in the form of subsidies, bailouts, no-bid government contracts, and a giant military-technology state.
The real choice is between ever more concentrated wealth and power at the top - in the billionaire class, tech bros, Wall Street, and the C-suites of giant corporations - versus more wealth and power in what used to be the American working middle class.
That’s what the “affordability crisis” is all about. It also underlies America’s growing concern about corruption.
For the last few weeks it’s looked as if America was about to choose the second path, for The People and against Big Money.
But Big Money is now striking back. Elon Musk is pouring hundreds of millions into supporting Republican candidates, as are Big Crypto, AIPAC, AI, and Trump’s MAGA Inc. (and its related super PACs).
“Dark money” - anonymous campaign donations flowing through so-called “nonprofits,” mostly from wealthy individuals and CEOs — is also dropping into the system.
Democratic candidates are being outspent 2-to-1 by super PACs and megadonors. More than in any midterm since the Supreme Court’s shameful Citizens United decision, Big Money is going almost exclusively to the GOP. The Supreme Court has given Republicans an additional spending advantage by allowing super PACs to work in close cooperation with candidates.
At the state level, Big Money is attacking ballot measures to increase taxes on the super-rich - such as California’s Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on billionaires. Google multibillionaire Sergey Brin is sinking hundreds of millions into defeating it. Gavin Newsom also opposes it. But another California presidential hopeful, Ro Khanna, is pushing for it, to his great credit.
This election is the clearest contest yet between Big Money and The People. Spending by super PACs and other megadonors in the current midterms is over 50% higher than in the 2022 midterms, in inflation-adjusted dollars.
In the meantime: stay calm, support good candidates, do whatever you can to get out the vote, and vote as soon as you can.