The 2012 presidential and congressional elections are reported to have cost a total of 7 billion dollars.
While there are only about 12,000 registered lobbyists, about 100,000 people are believed to engage in lobbying activities. Annual expenditures are about $9 billion every year. That’s a lot of cocktail parties.
Now think of this; with all the money politicians, lobbyists, and special interest groups spend, how much is your vote worth? Think about that next time you walk into the voting booth.
As Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
There are alternatives, of course; it’s possible to select leaders and maintain order without all the cost and effort we expend in a democracy. There’s North Korea with Kim Jung Un or Vladimir Putin running Russia, Georgia, Chechnya, Crimea, (Syria?) and whoever’s next.
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