Disclaimer – sorry about the over simplification of the politics of a major super power. And profuse apologies to anyone offended by it. You are very easily offended I might add.

So to continue. The Democrats have two possible presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The Republican Party¹ have way too many and I really can’t be bothered with any of them – but Donald Trump is one along with Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jed Bush, John Kasich and nice man called Carson. There’s a rather fierce lady in there too and I think a few others but some have thankfully dropped out at last. I actually don’t know who has dropped out and by the time I publish this post another few may have gone.

Now, when my brother was a teenager he asked my learned father about US politics. I guess it was about the time of JFK and US politics was having a major impact on global affairs. He asked about the Republican Party. “Well,” Dad replied, “the Republican party – it’s a bit like the Conservative party here in Great Britain”. “So what about the Democratic party” asked big bro. “Well,” Dad replied, “erm, the Democratic Party, let me see. The Democratic Party is like, well, it’s like the Conservative party here in Great Britain”.

And there you have it – the two major parties in the USA are basically like the Conservative party. Spoiled for choice then.

Mind you, the candidates for President embrace a very wide spectrum of conservative ‘values’. And perhaps you might not class Bernie Sanders as too conservative.

The qualities essential for a presidential candidate are as follows:

• They need to be great actors – because they are con people remember?
• They should be great orators – but then there’s The Donald
• With being on TV so much they need to be acceptable looking – or not in the case of The Donald
• And with the importance of social media, they need to know how to use it to best effect

Oops nearly forgot – they also need a not-so-small fortune.

A ridiculous amount of cash. What on earth do they need all of this for? Campaigning of course.

So most of the candidates have what are called ‘Super PACs‘. These are:

“a type of independent political action committee which may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but is not permitted to contribute to or coordinate directly with parties or candidates.”

None the wiser? Well think guns, or second amendment defenders, think pro-lifers or pro-tapestry weaving in a public space, or pro or agin *substitute your own ideas here* . In other words, other influential people with legions of supporters already in tow, and with truckloads of cash to throw (indirectly) at the candidate to help them along with their election.

They are not supposed to contribute directly but Super PACs may support particular candidates. Indeed.

Bernie Sanders says he does not have a Super PAC. Instead he appealed directly to the US public during his victory speech after winning the caucus in New Hampshire, asking for donations large and small.

The US system of government is based on what they lovingly call a system of ‘checks and balances’. In theory, this is supposed to make sure that no one part of the US government is more powerful than any other. The three elements that make up this system comprise the Legislature, the Executive and the Judicial. The President is basically at the core of the Executive. The other branches of government may comprise a totally different balance of party power from the Executive. So hence poor Obama has had a lot of battles to fight to get anything done at all.  The Executive dreams up the ‘things that must be done’, the Legislative debates and makes the laws and provides the budget that enable the ‘things’ to actually be done by the Executive and then the Judiciary sort of polices it all in the context of the constitution. And no one ever seems to agree about anything.

What a faff.

Perhaps for ‘checks and balances’ read – preserving the status quo and ensuring that people with a lot of money in the US don’t have to give too much away, especially to those less fortunate. But ironically they are happy to give it away, nay throw it away, on candidates for the presidency who frankly don’t stand a chance and will fade into oblivion once November 2016 is out of the way….

More money than sense.

For a more accurate and certainly informative account of US politics, I recommend the BBC article to you as it is straightforward and in true BBC style – unbiased….

This is also QI² on Super PACs – it’s about the money. It tells you which PAC supports which candidate and how much dosh they contributed.

1 Republican Party – also called GOP in many places, confusingly. This stands for Grand Old Party. Terribly grand.

2 QI – Quite interesting

• Part one for those that missed it.