Is Biden’s Fundraising Corrupt?

A recent article on medium.com decries solicitations for large contributions to Biden’s campaign, entitling one to attend a zoom event. (Today’s substitute for fundraising dinners.) The writer talks of “greed” and “corruption,” and that this isn’t democracy but “an auction to the highest bidder.” She says it shows Democrats are no better than Republicans, and she’s done with them.

I am such a donor. Not for any dark or corrupt purpose. Rather, from a sense of moral obligation, literally to help save my country in its hour of need. I’d never done the like in 50+ years as an active Republican. But now alas Republicans are shredding every principle that made America great.

Does that article’s writer fantasize they can be combated without significant funding? On $5 and $10 contributions alone? Trump’s campaign has already raised hundreds of millions, three times more than Biden’s, to spread its disgusting lies. With Russian help too. That needs to be countered.

They’re also trying to steal the election through voter suppression — measures making it harder for many citizens (mainly Democrats) to cast ballots. And Republicans have brazenly trumpeted budgeting $20 million to fight voting by mail. Battling all this will require a lot of manpower, on the ground, voter by voter. Very costly.

I do not naively assume all donors are altruistically motivated. (New York’s “pay to play” culture is notorious.) But in this free country everyone has the right to pursue their interests. Of course some have unequal resources to do that. There is no social or political system without some people having more power than others. That’s certainly been true of every socialist or even communist regime. At least in our democracy the interests of some are typically countered by others likewise pursuing theirs. Further, while a large donation may get you a hearing in the corridors of power, in a presidential campaign no one contribution is more than a tiny fraction of the total, diluting its force.

I have advocated diluting it further, with a flood of small contributions encouraged by a tax credit (say, $100), so the money comes from the Treasury. A form of public campaign finance with individuals deciding the recipients.

But anyway, suggesting Biden is somehow corrupted by a vast array of divergent interests supporting his campaign is absurd. His long record of upstanding public service refutes that. (In contrast to Trump whose record proves him corrupt to his core.)

The mentioned article (if it wasn’t a Republican/Russian plant) epitomizes a pernicious Democrat circular firing squad, tearing down Biden on one pretext or another: his fundraising, his age, his mental acuity,* his hugging (and the dubious sex assault allegation); his moderation; combing through his half century record in public life finding things to nitpick. Even were there something worthy of criticism in all this (I don’t think so), it seems blind to the alternative: the depraved monster in the White House destroying everything we hold dear.

Is Biden a perfect candidate? There’s never any such thing. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Joe Biden is a decent human being, an honest, responsible, public-spirited, compassionate man.

I am proud to support him, and the ideals and values America should represent, by contributing as much as I can to his campaign. Please join with me.

* Even parroting Trump’s ridiculous “Sleepy Joe” canard. There’s nothing wrong with Biden’s mind. It’s Trump’s that’s a cesspool of mental illness.