This is not a Harris thing. Super PACs are all scams one way or another. This is by design.
GCJ Research conducts public opinion surveys via text messages and pays participants with Amazon gift cards. There are several threads on the r/scam subreddit from people who have gotten texts out of the blue from “Alex w/ GCJ Research” where people attest that the company is not a scam and that they have in fact received their promised gift cards. The company has created websites such as ncopinions.com where respondents would answer questions.
Every penny paid to this company was a waste. They’re gathering the opinions of people that would respond to scam texts.
It’s all just busy work, I’ve been saying it since 2020, no political campaign can honestly go thru a billion dollars in less than a year. It’s Brewer’s Millions, there’s no way to productively use that much money in such a short amount of time. But they need to use it to justify getting more.
So it’s this insane feedback loop where they’re burning ~75% of the money because they get ~25% of what’s raised.
The current DNC is filled with people good at compromising the party’s platform in exchange for donations, but none of them actually know how to use it to get votes.
The current DNC is filled with people good at compromising the party’s platform in exchange for donations, but none of them actually know how to use it to get votes
It’s not that they’re bad at it. It’s just that they’re serving two masters. One master provides the lions share of their funding and war chest. The other master provides the votes to get them elected. And both have different priorities. Which is why you get the discrepancy.
If they abandon the first master. They wouldn’t have the staffing and funds to message the uneducated disengaged population to get their votes. If they abandon their second master. They might not get elected, but they’ll still have jobs.
Some might say that’s bullshit. That Democrats having been raking in record amounts from small donations every presidential election. These are people clinging to a thread but who’ve lost the plot.
The terrifying truth is that fascists dump multiples of that every 4 year splurge. Each year. Does it justify Democrats seeming mismanagement. Hell no. But it is short sighted to crucify them over it.
If we want them to stop. To even improve. We need to figure out a way to provide the organization, funds, and resources to replace the money they’re getting from the wealthy. We used to do that through the labor unions. We don’t anymore and there’s a very good lesson to learn as to why we don’t.
The labor unions miscalculated their importance and influence. Much like third-party voters do today. Largely withholding support from the Democratic presidential candidate. Because they didn’t feel that he had accomplished enough for them. They allowed a fascist to win the presidency in an overwhelming landslide. Combined with the other houses of congress. The first thing the fascist did was to get and cripple labor and Union power. Even to this very day. They can’t provide the funding and the resources the democratic party used to rely on. And that’s why the Democratic party does even less for them today than they used to.
All we have to do to get the parties rhetoric and behavior to align. Is to make oligarch money unnecessary and unattractive. And in the meantime as the saying goes. Hate the game but not the player. In order to get the system changed they have to play the game.
I’ve always wondered where the mountains of campaign cash goes. And literally half the time the candidate loses. I really wish we could get money out of politics so we could spend our effort on things that actually make the world better.
And literally half the time the candidate loses
Not if you do it right! This is an underappreciated issue in the two party system. Instead of donating to one candidate, split your money roughly in half and give to both. Now you win no matter what.
If there’s five viable candidates, this strategy doesn’t work so well.
