Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
The headline was large enough to seem like a shout. Ken Paxton, accused of several improprieties, reported a $5 million donation to his campaign for the U.S. Senate against Texas Democrat James Talarico. He implied more money would arrive within the next two months. The idea that a corrupt man could receive such large sums made me wonder. How much money does it take to influence a human mind?
Trillionaire Elon Musk seems to think the answer is “a goodly sum” and plans to spend $100 million on the upcoming elections. He and other billionaires are convinced that money talks. One boasted that large contributions would keep the Republican grip on the Senate and buy two additional House seats. A third predicted the “blue wave” expected at the ballot box would never manifest. “When push comes to shove, the pigeons come home to roost,” he said.
I can’t argue with these beliefs when the 2026 report on the Global State of Democracy corroborates the facts. Republican oligarchs are using their money to shift our democracy toward the doctrine of a unitary executive. The goal is to give the US president sole authority over the executive branch, and reduce the Legislature to a satellite. Donald Trump has taken to the idea like a calf to its mother’s tit.
He has the help of a Supreme Court majority in his quest. It has gutted voting rights and allowed money to corrupt politics. The effect, says the report, has been to trample[d] on due process rights and send our democracy into a steep decline.
Can we do anything to save our Republic? Dr. Seema Shah, a report spokesperson, answers that question with another. With authoritarians entrenched, how far is the public willing to break [its] own democratic laws to get them[selves] out?
We’ll know the answer in November. Lulled by Republican money and Republican leadership, will the pigeons come home to roost? Or will they resist the comfort of the familiar and insist upon change? That depends upon their ability to withstand a blitz of campaign misinformation. If they make decisions for themselves based upon personal experience, then money will have no power over them. Even the most devoted packhorse knows when the trough is filled with sand instead of water.
Nonetheless, I admit the country is on the brink of saddling itself with a permanent autocracy run by the ultra-rich. If that happens, decades will pass, if not centuries, before someone, standing in rags among the huddled masses, will whisper, “I think all men are created equal.”
Before we fall into that dystopian despair, we must defend freedom now. The first step is to VOTE! Next we must encourage others to do the same. Let the blue wave become a tsunami. Make it large enough to discourage those with flotillas of cash from imagining they can withstand the tide.
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(For the next two weeks, this blog will feature repeats. Look for fresh comments on Thursday, October 15. I’m working on a short story, and I want to finish it. Sadly, I’m not gifted enough to write a blog and do fiction at the same time. Thanks for your patience.)
BOYCOTT: Tesla, Apple, Amazon
