A Well Oiled Machine 4 18 2021

The mechanisms by which the Republicans use to maintain their position in the social order are becoming more clear.  The latest finding is that the Republican bourgeoisie is rocketing their people to status as legitimate writers who get best selling books.

In reality they are buying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of their person’s books, often with campaign contributions, making it look like their books are being read by millions, when in reality they were all bought by the Republican Party.

They are flush with cash, all from the businessmen they are controlled by.  In a previous article I wrote I called attention to a practice written about in the Washington Post, where campaign contributions to Republicans were used to pay businesses to produce their propaganda videos.  Contributions to a rising star in the party was used to pump up their press coverage in the bourgeois press.

This is not remarkable, but it becomes interesting when we see the companies contracted to make the propaganda made large amounts of profit from the videos.  They had a system where if there was more contributions to a candidate’s election, they made more profit.  The profit rate was often close to 70%. 

“The machine that produces candidates for political office, used by the Republicans, is becoming an industry that makes a large amount of profit.  The companies provide, for instance, promotional videos that pump up a candidate.  The bourgeois press plays it on television, or online, and the business who has created the video gets a cut of the campaign contributions it generates.

“The amounts of campaign contributions that get siphoned off to capitalists as profit can be as high as 70%.

“A big part of this is the private ownership of the media, where you can pay money to have your propaganda on the air, on television for instance. You can literally be on television news, in the advertisement when the news is on, if you pay enough money.  

“This is the root of the problem.  Now we see the propaganda apparatus of the Republicans is for profit.  It is an industry, a slick product to promote a candidate on FOX News.

“It doesn’t even matter if the candidate wins, just that they can pay.  Of course, if more people view it, and donate money to the campaign, that’s more money in coffers of the business who provided the propaganda.  

Where Your Contribution to the Republican Candidate Really Goes 3 3 2021

ecoligicalera.com

It is a well oiled machine.  It is an industry, built on promoting capitalist politicians, for profit.

What I mentioned earlier about the book publishing goes like this: 

“Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s memoir and social critique, “Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage,” soared to the top of the bestseller lists when it was published last year. The book helped raise the former Navy SEAL’s profile and burnished his credentials as a rising star among freshman congressmen.

“As it happens, Crenshaw and his publisher, Hachette Book Group, got a little help from the Texas Republican’s friends.

“The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP candidates to Congress, spent nearly $400,000 on bulk purchases of the book. The organization acquired 25,500 copies through two online booksellers, enough to fuel “Fortitude’s” ascent up the bestseller lists. The NRCC said it gave away copies as incentives to donors, raising $1.5 million in the process.

“The NRCC wasn’t the only outfit providing a big-bucks boost to conservative authors. Four party-affiliated organizations, including the Republican National Committee, collectively spent more than $1 million during the past election cycle mass-purchasing books written by GOP candidates, elected officials and personalities, according to Federal Election Commission expenditure reports. The purchases helped turn several volumes into bestsellers.

“While there’s no prohibition on such second-party purchases, a new complaint alleges that another Texas Republican, Sen. Ted Cruz, crossed the line into illegal activity when he used campaign money to boost sales of his newest book.

“A government watchdog organization, the Campaign Legal Center, filed complaints last week with the Federal Election Commission and the Senate Ethics Committee about the manner in which Cruz’s campaign aides went about bulk buying and promoting the senator’s latest volume, 

“The group said Cruz’s campaign committee effectively converted campaign contributions to Cruz’s personal enrichment, an illegal practice. It alleged Cruz’s staff did so by spending $154,000 of his supporters’ funds on copies of his book, and an additional $18,000 to promote it via Facebook ads reading “Buy my new book!” and “Order it here” over photos of Cruz. Both actions increased sales of “One Vote Away,” which in turn allegedly triggered illegal royalty payments to Cruz, the group said.

“When elected officials use campaign contributions to advance their personal bottom lines, they compromise the integrity of the political process and undermine the public’s trust that their political contributions are being used legally,” the Campaign Legal Center wrote in a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee. The group is seeking unspecified civil penalties against Cruz. The FEC typically requires candidates to repay any questionable expenses to their campaigns.

“Other book purchases by party organizations don’t raise the same self-enrichment issues as those in the Cruz complaint, which hinges on his use of his own campaign funds. But the effect can be the same: A big buy can launch a book to prominence, unleashing a stream of royalties for its author and potentially driving up cash advances for their next book.

“And that can be a significant source of income for lawmakers. Brett Kappel, an attorney who specializes in federal election regulations, said members of Congress are forbidden from earning more than $29,595 in income beyond their federal salaries in 2021. But book advances and royalties are specifically exempted from these limits.

“In addition to Crenshaw’s book, Republican organizations have made large bulk purchases of books by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Donald Trump Jr.

“The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee founded by former senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), committed nearly $90,000 to bulk purchases of Cotton’s book, “Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour of Arlington National Cemetery,” which became a bestseller.

“This appears to be a largely Republican phenomenon. While at least seven Democratic senators published books during the past election cycle, neither the Democratic National Committee nor the party’s two congressional arms reported buying any of them in bulk quantities.

Washington Post 4 18 2021

To those of us who toll in obscurity, like myself, this is another example of the effects of big money on the political system. For years, 8 books now, the bourgeois has been trying to kill my writings with silence.  

They have been largely successful.  But look what happens when one of their number writes a book.  By bulk purchasing hundreds of thousands of copies with the Republicans Party’s money, our member of the ruling class not only gets an ego boost by making the bestsellers lists, he actually cashes in, making a profit of every book the party buys.

A pretty good racket.  People look at bestsellers lists, and feel it credibly tells them what everyone is reading.  It is in the newspaper, it says who sold more books. 

We now see even this is fictional, a book’s popularity is now due to the big money of a political party of businessmen, who buy the books and give them away free at their events.  

Looks like Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is in on it too.  He has always been a supporter of unlimited donations to political parties, and was the leader of the Citizens United movement who brought us the rule that “corporations are people too”, and can donate large amounts of money to whoever they please legally.  His support for the disgraced former president continues, even after two impeachments by Congress McConnell still supported Trump, and now again we see where his money is coming from.  The article makes clear the politicians are getting money from the bulk buying of their books, another example of where your money really goes when you contribute to Republican candidates.  

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

4 18 2021