July 30, 2012

Votes for Sale

By Cindy Simpson
Vote-buying is "where the money's at."  Those were words recently spoken in my home state of Kentucky, by some who admitted to knowing that the practice is illegal but as "everyday" as jaywalking.  (The Kentucky buyers interviewed were either serving time or awaiting sentencing.)  Obviously, money directly exchanged between individuals in payment for votes is a crime.  But how indirect (and still legal) can that exchange be before an election is compromised? Across the country, votes are cast for politicians who, when members of the ruling majority, can do practically anything for anybody in most any way imaginable.  (That reality was recently reinforced by some clever word-twisting in a famous Supreme Court ruling.)  The president's powers also seem limitless -- at least this one is sure that yes, he can (and has so far gotten away with it) -- especially when "we can't wait" to git-r-done. We could argue that the founders' original intentions, by...(Read Full Article)