The US political system is disgraceful. Money flows like bribes in a third world country. But in our country, this type of bribery is perfectly legal. And it keeps getting worse. Our Supreme Court exacerbated the situation a few years ago with the Citizens United ruling. Essentially, money has been considered free speech. And the more money someone has, the more “free speech” they can afford.

It is not just on the national level that this corrupts our political system. The State of Illinois is famous for our corrupt politics. Somehow we’ve had several Governors that have managed to actually break the law, get caught, and go to prison. How and why is mind boggling.

All you have to do is follow a few simple rules and your ability to gather political contributions is almost unlimited.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has amassed over $20M through contributions from his own bank accounts and those of rich supporters. So House Speaker Mike Madigan has gone on a fundraising binge lately and gathered over $7M in cash by putting it into various funds that he controls.

Political spending in Illinois and the US is out of control. Abraham Lincoln’s vision of a government of the people, for the people, by the people has unfortunately perished from the earth. Thanks to virtually unlimited cash in politics.

By and large, we the people are no longer represented. Bernie Sanders comes pretty close. But I doubt he will emerge from the Democratic Primary as the victor. He doesn’t represent the people with money. And therefore, he isn’t really supported by the party.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-mike-madigan-campaign-fundraising-met-20160102-story.html