5 ms·
What a shocking revelation! /s For real though, how is this surprising or even newsworthy? Look behind any large political movement and you'll see rich people
by BitwiseFool 5y ago
What a shocking revelation! /s
For real though, how is this surprising or even newsworthy? Look behind any large political movement and you'll see rich people funding them. And, as loathe as people are to hear the term "both sides", it's not like this is some sinister thing that only applies to the Tea Party folks.
- ethbr0 5y agoIn the US, it's probably slightly tilted towards conservative support. But just because the traditional conservative party platform supports low business taxes and light regulation. Which are effectively the only things that truly matter to corporations (in an accounting sense).
- BitwiseFool 5y agoI challenge that assumption because it really seems like major US companies have embraced progressive causes wholeheartedly. I can really only think of a handful of traditionally 'conservative' companies like Hobby Lobby and Interstate Battery. But I don't have to look very far to find a fortune 500 company donating to some progressive cause. Even McDonald's CEO has endeavored to make themselves a "Modern and Progressive Burger Company": https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/flirting-with-kale-on-the-menu-to-keep-up-with-modern-times/2015/06/17/85a48f4e-1515-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/flirting-with-kale-o...
- ethbr0 5y agoFollow the money. They'll loudly support wherever public sentiment is, for PR purposes. They'll make a show of donating equally to both parties (or neither), to claim neutrality. But ultimately, people and businesses invest money into politics because they expect a return. The government taking less of your money (or the government giving you money in the form of business) are that return. And there are way too many dark routes to funnel money into politics without leaving a trail or disclosure.
- fakedang 5y agoProgressive does not always mean good for the working man. Progressive today seems to mean carrying a megaphone and proclaiming loudly about how you support some movement that will make you money. How many of these companies supported Occupy Wall Street? Modern and Progressive Burger Company hires more Queer and Transgender people and still pays them half a living wage.
- netizen-936824 5y agoIts an issue of social vs fiscal conservatism
- admax88q 5y agoIt's news worthy because it provides hard evidence that the Tea Party is not as "grassroots" as it markets itself as.
- RappingBoomer 5y agothe question also arises as to whether the tea party would have been more populist and more rightwing if the funders had not been billionaires...or whether an alternate and more rightwing populist movement would have arisen if the tea party had been there and funded by the rich
- j_walter 5y agoJust because funding comes from large donors doesn't mean something isn't a grassroots movement. Do you think any other grassroots movement doesn't have large donors? The largest donor in this case was $1M...do you think there weren't any million dollar donors for BLM or Bernie Sanders?
- BitwiseFool 5y agoI also see it as a chicken and egg problem. Do we fault a 'grassroots' movement for becoming big enough to get donor money? Or do we fault a 'grassroots' movement because it was launched by donor money? In any event, big money just seems like a necessary evil for any impactful social/political movement, sadly.
- unholythree 5y agoWas there big money donors for the 60’s civil rights movement? I don’t think it had billionaire backing but I might be mistaken.
- j_walter 5y agoBillionaires no...but he did fundraise for his movement and put all of the money he got for his noble prize into it as well. Lets not confuse the 60's civil rights movement with anything going on today though...there is a lot more shadow money with today's activist movements on both sides of the political spectrum.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y agoIt’s specifically newsworthy and somewhat surprising because that movement wouldn’t shut up about how it’s “real Americans” and “grassroots” and just ‘concerned citizens” in opposition to the “coastal elites”.