I think it's a terrible system, but money in politics is like water running downhill -- it finds its way.
Jonathan AlterThe basic problem is with the business model of journalism. That business model is premised on the idea that talk is cheap and reporting is expensive.
Jonathan AlterUnless the digital divide is narrowed soon, the United States may be headed to the class warfare of a century ago, the last time the economy changed so fundamentally. It won't be pleasant.
Jonathan AlterObama was willing to compromise and Republicans were not. That's not a biased statement. One of my problems with the limitations of journalism is that straightforward descriptions of reality are seen as being biased.
Jonathan AlterAlmost no one under 60 remembers what fundraising was like before Watergate. Until the 1970s, campaign money was collected by "bagmen," familiar characters from the world of organized crime. As fans of Boardwalk Empire know, a bagman is a political fixer who walked around with stacks of $100 and $1,000 bills. At lower levels, he used brown paper bags. In presidential campaigns, the cash was more likely to be in briefcases. Classier that way.
Jonathan Alter