I noticed the article in Friday’s Daily Post about the $20-million-dollar governor’s race here in Colorado. The article by journalist Chase Woodruff revealed that, according to reporting filed with the state, Colorado gubernatorial candidate Michael Bennet, has received campaign support totaling maybe $10 million from various billionaire donors, including former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
His opponent in the Democratic primary for governor, Phil Weiser, has received maybe $5 million in campaign support.
Republican candidate Victor Marx has seen a little less than $3 million in support.
When I think how far $18 million could have gone to fixing our county roads, that just seems like a shameful waste of money. Especially knowing, as we do, that all of this expensive political advertising is mostly lies and fiction.
Senator Bennet and Attorney General Weiser are spending most of their money attacking each other, even though they’re both Democrats and presumably agree on 99% of everything political. So they’re spending millions fighting, essentially, about each other’s personality.
Senator Bennet has been serving in Washington DC for the past 15 years, but the Republican Party has controlled the Senate for eight of the past 12 years, so we’ve been pretty much paying Senator Bennet to get nothing at all accomplished.
If I were Senator Bennet, I would also want to look for a different job.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Weiser has been having the time of his life, suing the pants off the Trump administration. He’s managed to block administration policies from taking effect, at least temporarily, in 36 lawsuits, and another 21 cases are still under consideration. But he’s term-limited as AG, so the only way he can really keep fighting with the President is by getting elected Colorado Governor.
But first, he has to fight with fellow Democrat Michael Bennet, if he wants to win the June primary election.
President Trump arranged for a $60 million Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event for his 80th birthday on Sunday — and as a kickoff for ‘America 250’.
I didn’t watch the event, because what I really wanted to see was President Trump and AG Weiser facing off inside the cage. To watch that fight, I would have paid good money.
But we have to wonder, how many county roads could we have fixed for $60 million?
Okay, you can ask why I’m so concerned about county roads.
It’s not just because I live on one. It’s mainly because the billionaires are not concerned about my county roads. The billionaires are concerned about better airport runways for their private jets, and private golf courses in Montana, and flying spaceships to Mars… and in general, extracting as much money as possible out of my pocket, to spend on their own private pleasures.
Airport runways are pretty darned expensive.
Rocket ships to Mars are even more expensive. Not as expensive as a needless war, but still expensive.
In fact, for some of these projects, the billionaires actually need to collaborate to get them completed. That’s why there are clubs for billionaires, like the ‘Yellowstone Club’ in Big Sky, Montana. Apparently, if you gather enough billionaires together, you can obtain exclusive access to some of the most beautiful formerly-public lands in America.
One of my dad’s favorite expressions, typically delivered tongue-in-cheek: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
Delivered tongue-in-cheek, because my dad was not a “joiner”. He didn’t belong to any social organizations, or labor unions, or book clubs, or bowling leagues. Definitely, he didn’t belong to a billionaires’ club.
And I seem to be following in his footsteps?
Fact is, I really wouldn’t mind being a billionaire, and a member of the Yellowstone Club. But one thing I can say for sure. It would be easier for me to join ’em — no matter how unlikely that may be — than for me to beat ’em.
You can beat an egg, and you can beat a drum… but you can’t beat the billionaires.
My main point being, it’s really important to billionaires to get the right person elected as Colorado’s governor. Understandably.
The state is home to about 6 million non-billionaires… with pockets… from which money can still be extracted.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.