Ducks who work at Priorities USA
Goddamn, I am so close to finishing this novel. The project is organized on virtual notecards,1 and I am writing the one labeled “denouement.” Instead of thinking about things that are definitely important, I am thinking about a space monster. “Good, how are you?” I said to the cashier at the bistro, in response to “good morning.” I haven’t eaten since. I go into the kitchen and I can’t remember why. I remember minutely the mechanics of imaginary accidents. I’m also still making deadlines and shit, so once again, I turn to Combat! blog late in the day, nigh emptied of words.2
Fortunately, the non-space monster issue most striking today allows for little elaboration in response. It’s just bad. Late in this story on fundraising during the 2016 campaign, USA Today drops this sweet factoid:
The USA TODAY analysis identified the 156 individuals, corporations and organizations that have donated at least $1 million to super PACs since Jan. 1, 2015, and reviewed their month-by-month giving…Those donors, some of the richest people in the country, account for nearly 60% of the record $969.2 million that has flowed to super PACs through the end of July.
The news here arrives in two parts: Super PACs took in record amounts of money this year, and a majority of it came from a group smaller than the graduating class at your middle school. It’s a good thing those organizations can’t coordinate with political campaigns, or we would appear to have radically restructured campaign finance law to the benefit of one half of one millionth of the American people. That would be bad. This news appears to be bad, if you assume money significantly influences politics. It looks like a step toward oligarchy, and I can say nothing more nuanced about it. Not until I’ve eaten some Triscuits, anyway.
