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Following Bowman's victory, which was aided by independent spending, and in light of Warren's bullshit attack earlier this year on DSA/Sunrise/Dream Defenders/MTR/CPD/PA/PDA/OR, I hope the left can move beyond simplistic ideas about certain legal structures being inherently evil.
We see confusion and charges of hypocrisy on Twitter every time a left-wing group forms any kind of campaign spending entity.
Some people here dragged JD a few weeks ago for forming a hybrid/Super Pac, but I for one am happy that they raised the money to counter Engel on TV and defend Bowman from this actually bad Super Pac: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/15/gop-republican-super-pac-eliot-engel-jamaal-bowman/
Bowman faced $2 mil on TV against him, half negative.
Bowman faced $2 mil on TV against him, half negative.
This is going to keep coming up as the left fights for power, because the most important races (especially anything statewide), are going to involve expensive air wars, and it would be madness to lose important elections because we clung to taboos about certain tax statuses.
We need serious campaign finance reform including public financing, contribution limits, banning corporate contributions, actual enforcement, and eventually overturning Citizens United and banning unlimited spending.
But to put it mildly we need to win a hell of a lot more elections if we want the power to ever pass those reforms. And in my view that means using every tool at our disposal, as long as the source of funds is not at odds with our values.
The boring reality is that there are only a few types of entities you can use if you engage in political activity at all, and honestly each one can be used for good or evil. Yes, Super Pacs and c4s are often vehicles for billionaires and corporations to buy election outcomes.
But “evil” Super Pacs and c4s are also often the entities that make the most sense for efforts that are fully in line with left values. See the pro-Bernie grassroots coalition in 2020.
And the supposedly "good" tax statuses are used by plenty of bad actors.
And the supposedly "good" tax statuses are used by plenty of bad actors.
Anyway, just my $.02 on an issue that comes up cyclically, which a lot of online leftists are understandably confused about.
