Money Trail

I decided to listen to J.P.'s speech at the Liberty Alliance meeting held in the auditorium of the Indian Hill Primary School.  Susan normally attends these meetings since she is on the Executive Committee.  It was an informative meeting as they had the two Republican candidates from my State District (Ohio #27) present their credentials.  Also they explained how the two parties have State Central Committees that are voted on in the primary (1 male and 1 female for each of the 33 Districts).

What was evident is that the power of the party (either party) resides with this Committee and it's Chairperson and governance.  From the "inside" story of the politics within the Republican Ohio Central Committee, it was clear that "it's all about money and power".  It made me thing of why it is so important to know where your money goes.

At SVP Cincinnati we use the term "Engaged Philanthropist" because our members not only know where their money goes, they volunteer time at the non-profit we fund.  We contrast that with the "Checkbook Philanthropist" - the person who writes a check and hopes the money is spent appropriately.

I think these same terms apply in Politics.  Too many people are just "Checkbook Citizens" - writing a check to the Ohio Republican or Democratic Party and hoping the stewards of that money are spending it appropriately.   Well, if how Congress spends our money is any indication of how the Parties spend money - we can all be upset on any money given to the Party.

The solution is to become an "Engaged Citizen" that donates both time and money. The first part of engaged is to understand how much money is involved and where it is spent (like a 990 IRS form for non-profits). I think a great visual would be a one page document showing the "money trail" of the Party, the PACs, the SuperPacs etc. 

I'm guessing this money trail probably leads to the garbage pail!