Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Taking the "Fun" out of Fundraising

Congressional fundraising doesn't sound like much of a bad thing when one first hears of it. However, John Oliver makes it obvious that congressional fundraising is in fact a dark business. In his video, Oliver humorously unveils the deeper secrets of fundraising in politics. Congressional fundraising is when politicians ask for donations to help them campaign. The problem appears when one learns how this all happens. Call rooms are set up in buildings "just a few blocks from the capitol." Having to work in the call rooms was described as demeaning. Complaints about working in the call rooms included being confined to a small cubicle, long hours, and poor hygiene (causing the room to smell). Oliver even interviewed former Top House Democrat in New York, Steve Israel, who said after announcing his retirement "I don't think I can spend another day in call room making another call begging for money..." The fact that this would be mentioned in such professional statement shows that the call rooms are just that terrible. During the interview, Israel also described the poor working conditions in the call rooms, and how he had to frequent them approximately once every three days.

The real issue behind the darkness of congressional fundraising is money. There never seems to be enough of it. Everyone seems to always need more in order to do what they want. How one obtains money can also be a problem. For example, the presidential candidates often brag about how much money they have raised and how they got it. Bernie likes to exclaim how all of his money comes from contributions of the people. Trump, on the other hand, is practically funding his entire campaign with his own enormous wealth while trying to write it off as donations. If people saw the reality behind call rooms many would be upset, maybe thats why the truth is wrapped up in so many layers. Oliver even mentioned that they could find no video footage of inside the call rooms.

Money has always been the problem. There are few issues that money cannot solve. The greed humans have for wealth often leads them to dark places. It seems that many politicians have managed to find one of those places in the call rooms of congressional fundraising.

(Sign Here.)

No comments:

Post a Comment