Ever wonder who spends the most on elections? To which of these organizations do YOU belong?

I “belong” to several through stock and business association. In some instances I was vaguely aware of their political contributions as well as funding of studies and experts presented before congress to testify on their behalf, not to mention their lobbyist.

I’ve yet to see any value in allowing uncapped corporate donations and spending into the political process. At its worst it allows the outright buying of votes at its least the appearance of impropriety – neither of which have any valid place in politics.

It may seem like a lot of money but that is for 20 years of contributions so split that out and 1–2 Million per year doesn’t buy a whole hell of a lot of influence these days. Plus none of these corporations is hiding the fact they have made these contributions either. It is the questionable “soft donations” untraceable credit card donations that muddy up the waters.

I’m happy to say that I DON’T belong to the AMA. I dropped my membership in disgust years ago.

I found it intriguing that most of the top 20 donors weren’t corporations.

Yes, but they screwed me over, so no more AT&T and Citigroup. Other than those two, none.

Yay, look at all the donkeys in the top 10. We need all the money we can get to fight off the bad guys.

@IchtheosaurusRex

Sigh. When will you learn that there are no “bad guys,” only people who see the world differently?

@CaptainHarley , allow a little facetiousness here and there. We have limited choices in this country. Both political parties are rotten with PAC money, and neither serves the interests of the electorate particularly well. But you have one side that at least makes a middling effort towards progressive reforms and another that’s opposed to “Big Government,” when what they really mean is, they want government to stay out of the way of businesses intent on robbing America blind. Big Government or Big Business. Take your pick.

There used to be a saying that the Republicans protected big business and the Democrats protected Really big business.

I don’t know if any of that is true now but I do know that there is only a very small minority of congress that cares about their citizens. If there is no dollar sign attached, nobody in government cares.