[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

I wanted to do something here that was in keeping with the web community philosophy that the more you know about the people behind a web site, the more interested you’ll be in what they have to say — unless, of course, the extra information includes some rather disturbing IM messages.

So, based on a similar idea by James Boyce on Huffington Post, I decided I’d do a kind of Meet the Bloggers feature of my own to let people know  the writers of GMD a little better.

But, the idea came with a bad omen…

Cuz, following Boyce’s original entry, he profiled Peter Daou, who soon disappeared from the blogosphere to work for Hillary Clinton. And then, almost on the day he posted his profile of Jerome Armstrong, news began to spread about Armstrong’s past run-in with the SEC and his fondness for astrology-based, political fortune telling.

And, with that, the series ended.

So, in order to appease the Stars, who are perhaps a little miffed about the demotion of Pluto, I decided to just post the responses to my first interview question: What is your first political memory?

Of course, you’re certainly encouraged to answer the question in the comments, too…

And now, in There’s Moretown, here they are:

Jack McCullough…

My first political memory was the night JFK won the nomination for  presidency in 1960. This was a big deal for my family, and that election  is the first one I really remember.

Odum…

Vietnam Cease Fire. What was it…january of…’73? I think it made an  impression ‘cuz my family was watching so intently, and I was able by  that time to read enough to recognize the words "cease fire" in the  wipe/box over the anchorman’s (Harry Reasoner, maybe?) shoulder.

Ed Garcia…

Goodness, I forgot all about this.

Mine is being taken by my  grandparents to see George McGovern at a whistle stop in Stockton, CA  in the summer of ’72. My grandmother told me, "When you see Senator  McGovern, mijo, you tell him you’re going to be the first  Mexican-American President of the United States!" And I did. He laughed  and said, "Good for you!" and shook my little hand.

DAMN, I wish I had a picture of that. I was seven and a half.

Anyway, i left there with a baloon, and one of those blue-on-white McGovern  stickers. Which I applied to the back bumper of my mom’s ’67 Firebird.  BOY, was she pissed. Especially since she couldn’t get it off. She  didn’t dare spank me, though – she didn’t want to hear it from my dad  and grandfather; she was already hearing it enough for supporting  Nixon.

My parents were divorced. Hell, if my wife went Republican, I’d divorce her too. And she knows it.

Actually, i think that was a couple years after the day i asked my grandma what  all those little stick men behind Walter Cronkite were. I was sitting  in her lap. She drew me closer and crossed me and whispered, "Those are  boys who died in the war."

Later on, I went to play in the garden with my army men, but it wasn’t as much fun that day. For some reason.

Mataliandy…

Mine was sitting in the back seat of our big old green station wagon, waiting in line at the Jack-in-the Box drive-through. It was just getting dark out. The radio was on, but I wasn’t paying attention. Then my parents both started exlaiming their utter disbelief that “he” had been elected.  My Dad said something along the lines of “How could this happen? Doesn’t anyone remember?” Then we got a lecture on “this guy’s” history, and how  important it is to vote, so that a “liar like this guy” could never be  elected again. It seemed like a very loooong drive home. As annoying as it was to a little kid hankering for her hamburger and fries, it did sink in.

I did not know at the time who "he" was (I was a bit too young to have  any clue). It was Nixon.

And here’s mine…

A discussion of Nixon’s resignation happening around me on a porch while on vacation in Maine. Based on the August 9th, 1974 resignation date, it well could have been right as it was happening and I must have been 4 years old… Conversation like “Thank God, we’re getting rid of that bastard…” is what I remember…

What’s interesting, aside from the obvious fact that, except for Jack, we’re all pretty much the same age, is that clearly we all grew up in families with a perhaps pathological interest in politics.

So, I suppose, this is how junkie bloggers are born.

[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

"Name calling" is an overused phrase in the world of politics. Right up there with "finger pointing."

Both these phrases tend to be used when a candidate is trying to avoid a legitimate criticism. And it always makes the person who says them seem childish, whiny and evasive. As in ~Boo hoo, I don’t think the voters like this kind of name calling and finger pointing… Sniff sniff.~

But, what happens when a campaign actually does engage in literal "name calling?" In that case, then, it’s really the name caller who’s being childish. And maybe just a wee bit nervous, perhaps?

Like Jim Douglas’ new ad, for instance.

The ad, which is conveniently not mentioned on Douglas’ site, begins…

Some people make a name for themselves, and they call  Scudder Parker Mr. Property Tax.  Why?  Because  Scudder Parker has  backed higher property taxes – even taxes like Act 60, the property tax  that  turned Vermont families against  each other, and drove families and jobs out of state.  Now  Vermont  taxpayers have something else to worry about – now Mr. Property Tax  wants to be  governor.

Mr. Property Tax… Ha ha, that’s funny.  Except that, according the VT GOP’s own web site, this oh so clever nickname comes from a single article in the Rutland Herald from… 18 years ago!

Now, I never claim to have a great grasp of Vermont’s political history and I have never been privy (until recently) to even the slightest bit of "insider" gossip. But, all I can glean from this is that the "they" who call Parker "Mr. Property Tax" are  today’s Vermont Republican Party and a headline writer in the late 80s. Pretty hokey name calling, eh?

The ad doesn’t get better. It continues…

And he’s working on making a few new names for himself – how  about Mr. Income Tax?  Mr. Payroll  Tax?  He just told Vermont Public Radio  he wants just that – higher payroll and income taxes.  He  said under his plan "everybody pays."  And even with  prices at the pump over three  dollars, he’s ready to raise gas taxes.  Mr. Property  Tax. Mr. Income Tax. Mr. Payroll Tax. Mr. Gas Tax.  There’s  just one name Vermonter’s shouldn’t  call Scudder Parker – and that is governor.

The source for most of the claims here seems to come from Parker’s March 28th appearance [mp3] on Switchboard (referred to on the VTGOP site here), where he said the following…

Kinzel: And the way that  you  see that people will pay for their coverage is through tax revenues?

Parker: It’s  a mix of using Medicare, Medicaid, other revenue sources that we have  now, co-pays, and a fair tax structure, which really the Senate plan  last year tried to do.  I actually believe that the theme of the Senate  bill – the House and Senate bill – which is everybody pays what they can  and gets and has access to service – is the right theme for Vermont.  I  think this would be a more efficient way of doing that.

So, it’s not  that Parker’s going to make "everybody pay" like some kind of dark villain. He was simply saying  that "everybody pays what they can."

And Parker  continues on to criticize Douglas’ health care plan which would have placed extra burden on business owners (my emphasis)…

Kinzel: So perhaps people  would have a payroll tax the way that Medicare is run?

Parker: That’s  right.  Payroll – income; you could find a balance of those taxes.  But  really it’s not new money, it’s talking about fairly allocating the  contributions.  What we have now is a system – and governor Douglas  actually proposed to aggravate that system – in which the employers who  cover their employees would actually get an increased cost or an  increased burden imposed on them and the folks who don’t don’t have to  pay.  That is nonsensical, that does not make sense – it makes for  competitive disadvantage.  It’s anti-business.

Who’s really supporting policies that will drive "jobs out of state?"

Of course this is the old Good Cop/Bad Cop routine that Douglas/Barnett have profited from through the previous election cycles. And it’s high time they get called on it, too.

See, there’s lots of evidence to suggest that Tarrant’s poor showing compared to Rainville in Tuesday’s primary was directly related to Tarrant’s dishonest ad campaigns which turned off lots of voters.

So the Douglas campaign better be careful.

People might start to catch on that like in the old routine, this Good Cop is not really above the fray. He’s just playing a role.

I know it’s been mentioned already a few times here, but here’s this weekend’s Road Less Traveled: Vermonters Walking Toward a Clean Energy Future schedule…

Friday, September 1 at Middlebury’s town green (Main and Pleasant Sts.)

The Back Roads Walk

13 miles to Vergennes via Seymour St., Morgan Horse Farm Rd., Pearson Rd., Green St.

Schedule
9am registration and preparation at Middlebury town green (Main and Pleasant Sts.). Coffee and light breakfast provided.
10am depart for Vergennes. Water and snack station en route.
5:30pm arrive at Vergennes town green for Conversation on the Green with music, town meeting, and action on global warming.

Saturday, September 2 in Vergennes at Burroughs Farm Rd

One Step Closer

11.5 miles to Charlotte via Route 7.

Schedule
9am registration and preparation at 276 Burroughs Farm Rd. Coffee and light breakfast provided.
10am depart for Charlotte. Water and snack station en route.
5pm  arrive at Charlotte senior center, 212 Ferry Rd. for Conversation on  the Green with music, town meeting, and action on global warming.

Sunday, September 3 in Charlotte at Congregational Church, 403 Church Hill Rd

Spiritual Movement

5.8 miles to Shelburne via Route 7

Schedule
10am Paster Will Burhans opens his pulpit to Bill McKibben for spiritual address on global warming.
11am registration and preparation at Congregational Church, 403 Church Hill Rd.
12pm depart for Shelburne
4pm  arrive at Shelburne Farms, 1611 Harbor Rd., for Conversation on the  Green with family activities, interfaith service, music, and theater.  Skinny Pancakes will be serving sweet and savory crepes.
Attendees  are invited to spend the night at Shelburne Farms. Must provide own  camping equipment and dinner. Shuttles will be available from  Burlington back to Shelburne after Monday’s Battery Park events.

Monday, September 4 at Shelburne Farms, 1611 Harbor Rd.

Meeting on the Greens

8 miles to Burlington via Route 7.

Schedule
8am registration and preparation at Shelburne Farms, 1611 Harbor Rd. Coffee and light breakfast provided.
10:30am depart for Burlington
3pm music and Meetings on the Green at Battery Park (Note: the original location for this event, City Hall Park, has been changed to Battery Park).  Maple Wind Farms will be serving grass-fed and finished hamburgers and cheeseburgers and organic sausages.
3pm  Political candidates address Vermonters’ call for action on global  warming. Senator Jim Jeffords and candidates for Governor, Senate, and  House races propose their plans to address global warming (invited).
Shuttles available back to Shelburne Farms.

[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

Any of you regular readers of the Vermont political blogosphere probably haven’t missed the ubiquitous, mercurial and entertaining Haik Bedrosian‘s full-on attack against PoliticsVT, claiming that it’s a tool of the Tarrant Senate campaign.

Now, I’ve long admired Haik since the time he ran for Mayor of Burlington while still in high school. And since Haik’s been wondering why nobody seems to want to pay attention to his campaign, I thought I’d show him some respect by taking the time to offer my views on this. So here they are…

Because of the long ago launch of PoliticsVT in January of 2005, and the overall blandly non-partisan tone of PoliticsVT, I think most people regard Haik’s claim as self-evidently absurd. And knowing Haik’s penchant for Andy Kaufman-like absurdity, it seemed to most – or at least to me – to be an elaborate bit of political theater with the possible intent to coax the Dead Guvz into outing themselves, just on principle.

So, I’ve been waiting for the punchline, though I’m no longer so sure it’s going to come.

And even though I seriously doubt Haik’s claims, who knows, he may be right. Regardless, he should certainly be commended for trying to shine some light on the activities of the Hayes Group.

I also think the timing of this effort has been a bit unfortunate for Haik, too.

See, it comes oddly at a time when a certain self-promoting bottom feeder (no link is deserved and this person will hereby be referred to as "Bottom Feeder"), who’s trying to make a name for himself by aggressively deriding others (and, in the process, walking right up to the edge of Frisching himself) has arrived on the scene. Further, through back channels, I’ve come to find out that both Haik and Bottom Feeder have allegedly used similar threats of "war" in private emails to their targets.

This had led at least one person I know to suggest, half-seriously, that Bottom Feeder might really be Haik’s own version of Andy Kaufman’s, obnoxious alter-ego, Tony Clifton. But, since there’s really nothing very similar in their writing styles, I doubt strongly that this is the case.

But a better question may be this:

Instead of PoliticsVT, is it Haik Bedrosian and Bottom Feeder who are on Rich Tarrant’s pay roll?

Let’s try this thought experiment…

Haik’s correct when he says that the Dean campaign, the recent Mayoral race in Burlington, and the Lamont/Lieberman primary are proof of how "powerful" the blogging community can be. And he’s correct that the  Tarrant campaign would be keeping an eye on this power.

But, here’s the thing, blogging seems to largely be a power base on the left…

Instead of putting money into something so non-threatening as PoliticsVT, would it not make more sense to insert a few instigators into Vemont’s blog world, who launch vulgar attacks and make seemingly crazy claims, to try to undercut the legitimacy of the netroots’ efforts and help to negate its influence? A sort of virtual version of the FBI’s infiltration of peace groups in order to stir up trouble?

And how can we square Haik’s staunch support for Bernie with his pro-Douglas inclinations? Suspicious disconnect, eh?

OK, I don’t really think Haik’s a Republican mole (or Bottom Feeder, either, for that matter). But, I think, it makes more sense to me than the PoliticsVT angle.

I do wonder, though, that at a time when we political bloggers have made some headway in being taken seriously – what with the Bloggers BBQ and the online Lt. Governor’s debate drawing coverage in print and on TV and radio – there could likely be some interest in trying to cut our legs out from under us before we have a chance to do something more politically significant.

But, who really knows what’s real and not real the wild west of the net?

Maybe, just maybe, Haik knows more than us all.

[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

There’s a John Updike collection of short stories called Too Far to Go that describes, among other things, the deep sadness of a married couple who are losing or have lost the connection that brought them together.

In the title story (I think – I may have some details wrong, but this is what I remember), there is a deeply melancholic scene that describes the husband lying awake while his wife is sleeping in the same room, but in a separate bed.

It captures the helplessness and vulnerability that can set in during the quiet, lonely half-asleep hours of the night, when it can seem impossible to find the strength within oneself to rise and deal with the things that need to be dealt with.

The hours when one’s bed becomes like a womb, and even the most confident and capable of adults are left to feel like weak and dependent infants, incapable of leaving the warmth and security beneath the covers.

The husband tries to find the energy and strength within himself to simply get up and join his wife, who is only just a few feet away, and begin to rebuild the trust and affection in their marriage.

But, he can’t. It is just too far to go.

I’m very happily married, but for some reason that brief scene and the phrase “too far to go” have always stayed with me. Not in relation to a lack of marital bliss, but to all the other things in my life that can feel occasionally insurmountable.

So, today, while reading the Carpetbagger’s reporting that Dean Webmaster Nicco Mele was signing on to McCain’s probable run for President, it was the first thing I thought of.

More on Mele…

I had the pleasure of working with Nicco on-site at Dean HQ during the primary campaign.

And though I didn’t spend too much time with him, he struck me as a very decent, thoughtful, intelligent human being. His work with EchoDitto and his interest in and support of citizen journalism have been very laudable.

One of the things that most people wouldn’t know is that quite a few of the main Dean web people were not at all sharply partisan about Dean and would often say favorable things about his opponents. And had very nuanced opinions about a number of topics. Meaning, well, they were very reasonable, non-dogmatic people.

But, McCain, Nicco? Really?

Sure, he’s not pure evil, but he could have done so much more in the last five and a half years to help blunt the disaster of the Bush administration.

And given the current condition of America and our place in the world, to me that is entirely unforgivable.

Supporting McCain?

It’s just too far to go, Nicco.

(And now, Part II of Bill McKibben Day here on GMD…)

I keep forgetting about this pretty amazing event that will be happening October 6-8th at both the Wyndham Hotel and Champlain College in Burlington.

Luckily a friend just sent me this reminder…

Those activists from Vermont and nearby locales worried about the corruption of democracy by the mass media should attend the “Facing The Media Crisis” Summit happening in Burlington, Vermont from October 6-8, 2006, sponsored by ACMEvt (Action Coalition for Media Education). More here – http://www.acmecoalition.org

The conference features keynotes and workshops featuring Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now host Amy Goodman, author/speaker Bill McKibben, author/citizen activist Diane Wilson, U.S. Representative and Senate Candidate Bernie Sanders, and actor/activist David Strathairn.

Representatives from local alternative and public access media outlets as well as national figures in the media reform movement will all be present to discuss ways for media makers, educators, and students to claim their independence from corporate media.

It promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for Vermonters interested in media and social change.

We look forward to seeing you in Burlington in October. Please share this introduction with your friends and colleagues who might be interested in this great opportunity to focus on the impact of mass media in our society.

Jerome Armstrong will also be on hand to discuss Crashing the Gate. No word if he’ll read your palms for $20, too (sorry, couldn’t help it).

And many, many others, including Middlebury author Vermont film director, Jay Craven. [Sorry, synapse error. I read it as Jay Parini, which is weird cuz I’ve seen Craven’s films, but have never read any of Parini’s books]

Here’s the full schedule (annoying PDF link).

But, warning… It’s not free and is pretty pricey. Full registration is $295.00.

Unfortunately, the ACME website is pretty awful, so save yourself some trouble and just go here to register online if you’re interested and can afford it.

And here’s the far less horrible Vermont chapter site.

So, can anyone out there get me in for free? Anyone?

I’ll buy lunch… Really…

UPDATE: Oh, I just noticed that it’s just $25 to go to either the Friday or Sunday headline events.

Philip Baruth provides some explanation (along with his usual nod to mysterious dark forces at play) for the odd disappearance of PoliticsVT from the Vermont blogosphere today…

He quotes an email he received from one of the Dead Governors…

We have a very, very serious problem right now here at the Capitol Bureau. While Isaac was on vacation yesterday in Michigan, his laptop computer was stolen. The problem is very very serious because not only does the computer have all his banking, real estate and computer information but it is also where all (or most) of the information regarding our blog was stored.

Man, that hurts. And it hurts us all.

Please don’t stay dead for long, ye Governors.

UPDATE: Baruth’s reporting that the Dead Guvz are back up in a slightly new location.

Don’t forget to update your bookmarks and blogrolls (or to check the date on your dinner rolls, too, while you’re at it.)

( – promoted by Vermonter)

I really couldn’t decide what to write about…

Should I highlight the delicious news that John McCain’s much-anticipated, much-desired (by some) appearance in Vermont – a robo-stop stump speech for Martha Rainville – had been dashed by inclement weather?

Or, the bizarre fact that one of the medical centers in Montreal is known by its acronym, C.H.U.M. (the Centre Hopital de l’Université de Montréal)?

I mean… Chum?!

I was in Montreal this weekend, and passed by a CHUM entrance sign on St. Denis, with its kinda cool, hip logo…

And I thought, c’mon, of all things you might choose to call a medical facility, I don’t think chum is the one I would have gone with!

And, hey… Montreal is a bilingual city, whether it wants to admit it or not… So language can’t fully explain this perverse, dark, macabre  gallows humor, can it?

What, did they mean chum as in pal?

Please.

But, then I thought, John McCain is kinda like chum for the supposed “centrist” voter.

So, maybe I could combine the two things that inspired me this weekend…

You know, McCain as chum for the ones who thinks criticizing the President is ~just not appropriate during wartime,~ despite the fact that they disagree with virtually every decision he’s made…

You know, the Lieberman Democrats…

And the part of Barack Obama that makes some of us cringe, sometimes…

The ones who think The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Chris Mathews are above reproach…

The “swing” voters who actually voted for Bush in 2004, despite the fact that they disagreed with virtually every decision he made…

The ones who think the media-generated middle American worldview must be accepted, not re-shaped, regardless of what they themselves believe…

They eat the McCain chum with gusto.

And they voted for Douglas in 2004, too…

So how could I ignore the missed visit after hearing that Rich Tarrant was trying to muscle his way into the McCain appearance?

(Cuz, no matter what the personal tiff was between two political operatives, that’s what was going on here, I think. It’s just that McCain’s official staff would have handled it more graciously than did the hired hand.)

After all that – and after all the hope the Rainville camp must have had for the glow of McCain to reflect on Ms. Martha – the tempetuous weather (and the lame Rutland airport) conspired to thwart all their best intentions…

It may not be nice, but it was hard not to gloat just a little.

And, who knows, this may mean a trip by McCain in late October, when Martha Rainville might actually be able to benefit from it.

So CHUM or chum? Who could choose?

Who could choose between sick doctor humor and taking just a bit of time to shine a little light on what must feel like a tragic turn of events to those who so desperately wanted a piece of the McCain magic.

Not me.

But, remember, come late October, McCain may just end up being the chum that keeps on giving.

[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

In this current installment of Darren Allen SnarkWatch (OK, this is the first – and, who knows – maybe the last), I’d like to address two items that he is SHOCKED, SHOCKED to learn about…

One, he finds the Welch campaign’s response to learning of $21,000, spent on Martha Rainville’s behalf, to be whiny and insincere. And speculates that when the next quarterly reports come out, we’ll be sure to see that “the Democrat money machine in Washington is spreading its largesse to Welch.”

But, PoliticsVT is reporting a somewhat different story (my emphasis):

According to reports, the Republican’s national US House campaign spent over $21,000 on Vermont’s US House race further dividing a possible clean campaign pledge between Democrat Peter Welch and Republican Martha Rainville.

Rainville, according to the press, was shocked [SHOCKED, SHOCKED] when she learned that the national GOP had done a poll in Vermont. Rainville said that she would call the GOP in Washington and ask them what questions were being asked and if it was a “push poll.”

Wow, that’s a little different scenario, isn’t it?

And second, he’s troubled by the Sanders campaign’s response to learning of Tarrant staffers videotaping his campaign stops. He writes (my emphasis)…

Sanders and Welch and Tarrant and Rainville and James Douglas and Scudder Parker and every other major candidate always send emissaries to their opponents [sic] events. It’s as old a trick as they come…

But, uh oh, Peter Freyne has this to say (my emphasis)…

P.S. Yes, confirmed Lennon, that was the “Tarrant for Senate” campaign’s office manager Layla Gray grilling Bernie about his sugar contribution at the spaghetti dinner Sanders’ campaign held on Saturday in Swanton. Eyewitnesses say the Tarrant staffer did not tell the crowd who she worked for, and kept interrupting Sanders when he attempted to answer her question.

Lennon told “Inside Track” Ms. Gray had every right to be there and ask questions as a private citizen.

Technically, yes. But it is in rather poor taste, Ol’ Tim, for a campaign staffer. At least in Vermont. Can’t remember it ever happening before in the Green Mountains.

Maybe it’s kosher in your native New Hampshire, but in Vermont, the paid-staff doesn’t play “average citizen” at an opponent’s campaign event.

OK, so who’s right? (And I recognize that they are commenting on two slightly separate topics: Allen adds the videotape angle).

Odum was nice enough to say at the Political BBQ last Sunday that it was good that I don’t have any real inside knowledge of Vermont pol’s proclivities; that I might be able to report from the perspective of the average Vermonter’s media-generated perspective of the political climate.

So, I say again, who’s right, here?

Is Darren Allen correct when he says that “Politics, as most observers know by now, is a dirty game that has only one acceptable outcome — to win.”

Or is Peter Freyne accurately positing a much rosier portrait of the traditions of the Great State of Vermont?

(By the way, it appears that the reference to the BBQ and Odum are missing from the print edition of Freyne’s Inside Track. I’m sure (hope?) this was just edited down for space concerns, but…

Does the Inside Track blog Freyne says is looking for sponsors – read: Seven Days is trying to find funding to pay Peter for a few more hours a week – not want to highlight the consistent work being done by the future competition?

Who knows? But, fun to speculate about, eh?)

[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

Ken Picard writes up an interview with David Sirota, one-time press secretary for Bernie Sanders, in the latest issue of Seven Days.

Sirota will be appearing at Borders in Burlington on Saturday, June 17 at 6 p.m. for a talk and book signing for Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government — and How We Take It Back.

Excerpt:

David Sirota is a rare breed among political strategists — a successful idealist. Capitol Hill is rife with ambitious, young wonks with overachiever resumes and public-policy degrees from elite institutions like Harvard, Georgetown and the LBJ School. But few are able to convert their elite academic pedigrees into careers of national prominence, while still remaining true to their populist roots.

Sirota, a former press secretary for Congressman Bernie Sanders, has earned his populist credentials and his whiz-kid reputation — at age 30, he’s already considered a veteran campaign operative, nationally acclaimed commentator, blogger and now bestselling author. Like his former boss in Vermont, Sirota is also known as a straight-shooting iconoclast who isn’t afraid to call bullshit on Washington’s powerful movers and shakers who suckle at the corporate teat. His first book, Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government — and How We Take It Back, may be the most scathing indictment yet of how both political parties have been hijacked by Big Money.

“Just as the mom-and-pop store in your town was bought out by the big corporate conglomerate, so has our government been the victim of a hostile takeover,” Sirota writes. “Over the last 30 years, Corporate America has applied its most effective business tactics to the task of purchasing the one commodity that’s not supposed to be for sale: American democracy.”