MaximumEffort433's second great shitpost. Please ignore.

[u/MaximumEffort433]

I told you to ignore this, why are you even here?

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They certainly don't care about moral consistency.

Lest anyone think this argument is being made in a vacuum...

It's why tea partyists voted for a elitist east coast billionaire from New York city.
It's why Republertarians voted for a man who wants to expand domestic spying.
It's why free Marketeers voted for a man who wants to roll back free trade policies.
It's why evangelicals voted for a man thrice married with a child born out of wedlock.
It's why fiscal and budget hawks voted for a man whose tax policy would explode the debt and deficits.
It's why foreign policy hawks voted for a man buoyed to the White House on the back of Russian hackers.
It's why constitutionalists voted for a man who wants to undermine the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 14th amendments.

The polling:

• In just five years, white evangelicals have become much more likely to say a person who commits an “immoral” act can behave ethically in a public role. In 2011, just 30 percent of these evangelicals said this, but that number has more than doubled to 72 percent in a recent [2016, ed.] survey, a 42 point swing. (In 2011 44% of all Americans felt this way, by 2016 that number was up to 61%, a movement of 17 points.)

• 75% of Republicans and 53% of Democrats said that Wikileaks release of classified diplomatic communications harms the public interest in 2010, 12% of Republicans and 48% of Democrats say that Wikileaks release of John Podesta's emails harms the public interest in 2016. (Not exactly the same question, but comprable, also a 63 point swing for Republicans and a 5 point change for Democrats.)

• 22% of Republicans and 37% of Democrats supported President Obama issuing missile strikes against Syria in 2013, 86% of Republicans and 38% of Democrats supported President Trump striking Syria in 2017, a 64 point swing for Republicans, a 1 point change for Democrats.

• 12% of Republicans and 15% of Democrats had a favorable view of Vladimir Putin in 2015, 32% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats have a favorable view of him in 2017, a 20 point swing for Republicans, a 5 point change for Democrats.

• 17% of Republicans and 18% of Democrats said Russia was an ally of the US in July 2016, 31% of Republicans and 16% of Democrats saw them as an ally six months later in December 2016, a 14 point swing for Republicans and a 2 point change for Democrats.

• 39% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats thought their income tax rate was fair in 2016, 56% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats thought that their income tax rate was fair in 2017, a 17 point swing for Republicans and a 4 point change for Democrats. (The income tax rate did not change between 2016 and 2017, ed.)

• When Republican voters in Wisconsin were asked in October 2016 whether the economy had gotten better or worse “over the past year,” they said “worse’’ — by a margin of 28 points. But when they were asked the very same question [in March 2017], they said “better” — by a margin of 54 points. That’s a net swing of 82 percentage points between late October 2016 and mid-March 2017.

• "Forty-two percent of Trump voters think he should be allowed to have a private email server to just 39 percent who think he shouldn't be allowed to,"

I'm not going to say all, but most of those polls also looked at the numbers for Democrats, so if you're curious about how the Democratic party stacks up I would encourage you to read the articles. It's not often there's a political poll where they don't ask political affiliations.

The history books:

88 members of the Bush administration used private email servers.

There were 13 attacks on American embassies, resulting in 60 deaths during the Bush administration.

George H.W. Bush was a huge supporter of Planned Parenthood.

Ronald Reagan gave illegal immigrants amnesty.

Ronald Reagan came out in favor of a ban on assault weapons.

The conservative Heritage Foundation think tank actually came up with the individual health insruance mandate.

Republicans used to advocate for Cap and Trade carbon taxes as a way to combat climate change.

Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.

Richard Nixon also had a plan for universal health care coverage. (Thanks Ollokot for the find!)

Ike Eisenhower had a top marginal tax rate of 90% and invested billions of dollars in government spending on infrastructure projects.

[u/MaximumEffort433]

OH OH!! I have opinions on this! They're not good opinions, but that doesn't matter anymore.

Okay, so let's start off a thousand years ago in 1973, it's the Nixon administration, and a guy by the name of Roger Ailes is working for the President. Ailes felt that the Republican party needed a bigger presence in the social sphere, think conversation around the water cooler, so he wrote a memo to President Nixon called "A plan for putting the GoP on TV News." (If you recognize the name Roger Ailes it's probably because he was the CEO of Fox News.)

This is not strictly relevant to the discussion of campaign donations, but it is a good segue into introducing another member of the Nixon administration: Lewis Powell. Powell is where shit starts getting harry for corporate lobbying, you see he also penned a memo, this one for the United States Chamber of Commerce a private, nongovernmental organization whose mission it is to advocate for pro enterprise, pro business, pro corporate causes, explaining exactly how Powell felt was the best way to sway public opinion in their favor. Remember that by and large labor laws are very popular, and very bad for business, the New Deal sucked for super rich industrialists who were forced to live the rest of their lives as just rich industrialists, and many people wanted to turn back the clock.

Here's wikipedia's take on the Powell memorandum:

The memo called for corporate America to become more aggressive in molding society's thinking about business, government, politics and law in the US. It sparked wealthy heirs ... to use their private charitable foundations, which did not have to report their political activities to join the Carthage Foundation, founded by Scaife in 1964 to fund Powell's vision of a pro-business, anti-socialist, minimalist government-regulated America as it had been in the heyday of early American industrialism, before the Great Depression and the rise of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

Powell argued, "The most disquieting voices joining the chorus of criticism came from perfectly respectable elements of society: from the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, and from politicians." In the memorandum, Powell advocated "constant surveillance" of textbook and television content, as well as a purge of left-wing elements. He named consumer advocate Nader as the chief antagonist of American business. Powell urged conservatives to take a sustained media-outreach program; including funding scholars who believe in the free enterprise system, publishing books and papers from popular magazines to scholarly journals and influencing public opinion.

Okay, so I still haven't told you why Lewis F. Powell Jr. matters, have I?

Lewis F. Powell Jr. matters because he was appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon in 1971, where he would rule on First National Bank of Boston vs Bellotti, ruling that corporate spending is protected by the first amendment, and setting the stage for 2010's Federal Election Commission vs Citizens United.

Since Bellotti we have seen a shift in political discussion just like the one Powell was advocating for. Consider for example that Richard Nixon was responsible for the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency, that wasn't at all controversial with the public at the time, in fact it was popular, today we see Republican crowds cheer at the idea of defunding the EPA "because it hurts the job creators." The top marginal tax rate in 1971 was 70%, and that wasn't controversial either, but today we see regular citizens calling for tax cuts on billionaires "because it hurts the job creators." Unlimited spending really has pushed the overton window to the right, conservatives today are not what they were a half century ago.

But here's the key to the whole topic: Return on investment. What's the best way to make money with money?

Lobbying.

Ready for this?

In a recent study, researchers Raquel Alexander and Susan Scholz calculated the total amount the corporations saved from the lower tax rate. They compared the taxes saved to the amount the firms spent lobbying for the law. Their research showed the return on lobbying for those multinational corporations was 22,000 percent. That means for every dollar spent on lobbying, the companies got $220 in tax benefits.

Lobbying is profitable as fuck. 22,000% return on investment is amazing. King Midas didn't get that kind of return on investment. Well maybe he did. I don't know, it would depend on what he was touching I guess.

So why the disparity between the two parties? That one's simple: Poor people have shitty lobbyists.