It’s said the cost of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign will be – gasp! – about $5 billion. That idea exceeds the budgets of two states, and is about the same as the budget of New Hampshire, where voting begins. It’s also twice as much as the 2012 presidential scramble. The major reason for the increase is that campaign contribution laws have been relaxed rather than strengthened. This means that wealthy donors (about 150 wealthy families) have seized an even firmer grip on national politics, and thereby their strangle hold on the country’s 335 million people. The rich not only get richer, but more in control of us all.
--TOM TIEDE