According to the Center for Responsive Politics, campaign donations from health care interests already top $19 million thus far in 2009, with 40% of those donations going to the five Senate and House committees that are responsible for reforming health care. Republican Senator Grassley from Iowa, who saw $53,000 in donations during the first quarter of '09, saw his health care contributions influx to over $125,000 during the second quarter.
According to Grassley's spokesperson Jill Kozeny, Grassley "accepts campaign donations that are legal and come with no strings attached."
Hmmmm...
Do I really think there are no strings attached? If I really expect to receive all those donations from special interests, am I not going to go ahead and push for their agenda? Do I really want to get reelected?
And therein lies the problem. In one sense I have no qualms with the way business is done in Washington - you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. On the flip side, money and power have become so entirely synonymous that I find myself having liberal tendencies of wealth-spreading in the deep recesses of my mind, and that's utterly frightening!
I suppose when you have the power you want to keep it, and money solidifies that ambition. I don't have the power so of course I see the plank in my brother's eye, but if any of us were in Senator Grassley's sneaks, could we truly resist the benevolent showering of praise, money and adoration? Or would we play the part of the whore?
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