Full disclosure, as if I really need to say it: I don’t live in Colorado. I’m a Hoosier. But…
South Carolinans trying to persuade Coloradans to do anything in an election should be 100% illegal. Spending money to unseat a Congressman in a state where you don’t live should be 100% illegal.
How this is permitted is beyond me. The American political system is cash-heavy with untraceable “dark money” like this. I would be extremely angry if someone were pouring such money into my state in an attempt to unseat my congressman or one of my senators — even if I didn’t like the worthless fuckers and was planning to vote against them anyway. (And I’m sure there’s a lot of dark money that funnels into Indiana elections through Chicago.)
The rule should be, if that congressman or senator doesn’t directly represent you, it should be a felony to make ANY contribution to their election or to their opponent(s). Out-of-state money should be absolutely verboten. We should be getting our backs up and shouting, “This is MY state, motherfuckers, keep your dirty money to yourselves.”
I believe, quite frankly, this should be the same rule for the congressional and senatorial PACs that are designed to spread the national party’s wealth to help candidates in underfunded races.
I consistently refuse to give $3 to the Presidential Election Fund on my tax return (and refused back when it was still $1, too) because fuck the entire notion of the government (which has its own motivations) dispensing money to the candidates for presidential electoral purposes. I simply don’t buy that this reduces the amount of private money in presidential contests. And of course it doesn’t, because a Jeff Bezos (boo!) or an Elon Musk (yay!) could easily refuse the federal money and spend all of their billions they wanted to on running for president. (If I recall correctly, Trump almost did, but I think the businessman in him shied away from spending his own money when the fund was already there.)
There needs to be a reckoning. All this “dark” money needs to be removed from political operations. Donors should have the courage of their convictions to be identified as supporting a given candidate, or they should not donate (and they should abstain from voting, too).
We cannot maintain our freedoms when inimical movements are spending tons of dark money to remove freedom-loving individuals like Lauren Boebert from office.