It’s official, the Donald has entered the race for the GOP presidential nomination. At this point is there anyone left who isn’t running?

We have lots of familiar names vying to get  lucrative FOX News contracts save the country. But does anyone seriously think that Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz and company have a chance? The only grown-up candidate, Jeb Bush, would not only have to convince the general electorate that he really is the smart one, but he’d need to make the case to the majority of voters in the densely populated electoral-vote-rich states that he’d be better at the job than Hillary. Not to mention finessing the balancing act that got Romney into so much trouble – running to the right in the primaries and then trying to pivot around so quickly your head falls off.

The only logical conclusion is that the Republican party and the powers that be (the Koch brothers, Adelson, and other crazy billionaires with less press) just don’t give a shit about the presidency. It’s bread and circus for their base, a chance to rile up the masses, and also sleight of hand. They’ll continue to hold on to congress (both houses) via gerrymandering, voter suppression, pacs, and any way they can. What power does the president actually have? There’s the foreign policy stuff, but except in a few specific incidences – lucrative private contracts for companies they’re involved with, crazy-love for the Likud party, etc. —  they don’t care a lot about whom we’re at war with. It’s not their kids going to fight. The bottom line is billionaires want to see their tax bills substantially lowered, they want to pay the lowest wages possible, and they want the least amount of regulation on their industries, with the most “privatization” of the stuff that government usually takes care of starting with prisons and schools, but eventually to include police, fire departments, etc. Turning America into a true banana republic with isolated super-rich people well-protected from the rabble, a tiny professional middle class in gated communities to serve them, and masses of poor people who will do anything to put scraps of contaminated food on the table, is not something the president can deliver, and they know it. That’s why the strategy is to make sure the right people are the only people who can vote locally, and to continue to rile those voters up by offering them the socially conservative menu they crave. The legislative branch is the one that counts. If they are throwing around some of their beaucoup dinero on the presidential race and supporting entertaining but totally unelectable and unqualified candidates, it’s mostly to keep their base interested, and partly for the same reason that many more progressive types still bother voting – the Supreme Court. Chances are the next president will be making an appointment or two so it may be worth it to get the “right” party in. However, even if they don’t succeed — with congress stacked, they can mitigate some of the damage a (Hilary) Clinton administration might do. Working with their legislative puppets they can make sure that if the next appointment is for Ginzburg’s seat, whoever gets in will be less liberal than she is, and if a more conservative justice resigns or dies, then congress will just delay and hold fast until another conservative is appointed. It won’t be advise and consent, and even under a democratic administration, the “balance” of the court won’t change much or will swing right.

The point: Put your fight (dollars, volunteering, etc.)  into making sure voters can vote. Put your fight into making sure that votes get counted honestly and accurately in every single voting district. Put your fight into getting out the vote, not once every four years but every single year, every single election. And if you’d like more evidence of how the game is  being played, let’s go to the video:

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