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-By Frank Hyland

A saying that has proven to be wiser and wiser as time goes by is, “Follow the money.” You’ve heard, no doubt, that money is the lifeblood of Capitalism and that “Follow the money” applies to Capitalism. That is true. It may surprise you or puzzle you, though, when I tell you that the saying applies equally as much to politics, to political parties, and to individual politicians. Politicians, after all, are fond of telling us that they are engaged in “public service,” as if no money changes hands or even needs to ever change hands. If you wonder about my claim here in Politics 101, consider it in terms of cycles: To begin the cycle, politicians run for office; organizations donate money to political candidates and/or to their parties; the organizations then lobby those whom they’ve supported, to press for their agendas; the successful candidates, keeping in mind their next run for office, support most– sometimes all — of their supporters’ requests; the supporting groups gain from the politicians’ support in terms of wage and salary gains; items like union dues increase along with income taxes, meaning that the unions’ income rises as well; in the next election cycle, the unions fill out “report cards” on the various candidates, favoring (Surprise!) the incumbents who rewarded them; the unions donate to those who supported their agendas last time. Now begin the cycle as above over and over again. While it hasn’t been a total secret, the details of the overall cycle have not been widely advertised to you even if you have been a union member. Now, in an era of tight budgets for everyone, the secret has emerged into the bright sunshine of media coverage.
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Frank Hyland’s Food for Thought: Follow the Money”