If Blagojevich is found to have attempted to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate, it will be a complete disgrace to our Republic. Our Founders will be rolling in their grave. Yet they would also be greatly troubled by the current state of money in politics.

If you set aside the shock and absurdity of this alleged scandal, is selling a Senate seat directly that much different from the way the current system works?

Let’s take a look at the numbers:

• The average cost of winning a House race in 2008 was nearly $1.1 million, based on pre-election finance reports, and almost $6.5 million for a Senate seat.
• In 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 94 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day Nov. 5, the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning
• Republicans spent $440 million and Democrats spent $424 million (through Oct 15th).
• 1 in 4 House Seats Weren’t Competitive, mainly because of the cost to play

source: opensecrets.org

Essentially, whoever spends the most wins the race. With a bulk of the money coming from special interests, once the victor is sworn into office they work shady deals and bad bills to return the favor to their donors (not voters).

The government expands and the citizen shrinks.

It doesn’t matter if they sport an R or a D - the current state of politics favors power-hungry slimebags on both sides.

They don’t give a shit about you or your situation.

We as voters must not fall into this game scam. We must educate ourselves on the candidates and vote in primaries, lest we end up having to choose from the “lesser of two evils”. We must reject the two major parties. It is clear to any reasonable person that the Democrats are no longer the party of FDR or JFK and the Republicans are no longer the party of Ike or Ronald Reagan. Why must Americans feel the need to hang on to a falling knife?

“Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government” - Warren G. Harding

The parties and system, our nation, and the Constitution have all been hijacked. It’s pay to play and it’s getting worse.