Economic elites do not give money to political elites in order to secure favorable policies in matters about which voters care. Political elites will do what makes political sense on these issues and if the result is bad for economic elites, so be it. This is understood by economic elites (they are not stupid). The objective of the money is to secure favorable policy on issues about which voters do not care.
Every year the federal government produces policy on hundreds of things on which voters have no organized opinion. By donating to a campaign the donor buys access of his lobbyists to the representative's staff members and sometimes the rep himself. Thus on every issue, the representative's team hears the donors' views. Secondly the need for raising money from the rich means the rep spends a lot of his time with rich people. He goes to their homes or places of business, attends fund raisers with them, meets their family and friends. Much of his social life involves rich people. When the only people outside of your family who you spend time with are either political or economic elites, how can you maintain the friendships with ordinary people that motivated you to get involved in politics in the first place? Sen Obama wrote about this in his campaign book.
All of us are familiar with what it's like to fly, particularly in tourist. It sucks. I hate flying. Flying in the corporate plane is really nice, however. I love flying that way. I went on a business trip to Kentucky years ago when we still had a corporate plane that was not reserved exclusively for executives. We left in the morning, spent several hours touring a facility in Kentucky and discussing process details and was home for dinner. Really nice and so much more efficient. So it is tempting that when a friend makes his personal jet available for you to make a business trip, you might take advantage of the offer, particularly if it lets you get back in time to catch your daughter's soccer match.
Every year the federal government produces policy on hundreds of things on which voters have no organized opinion. By donating to a campaign the donor buys access of his lobbyists to the representative's staff members and sometimes the rep himself. Thus on every issue, the representative's team hears the donors' views. Secondly the need for raising money from the rich means the rep spends a lot of his time with rich people. He goes to their homes or places of business, attends fund raisers with them, meets their family and friends. Much of his social life involves rich people. When the only people outside of your family who you spend time with are either political or economic elites, how can you maintain the friendships with ordinary people that motivated you to get involved in politics in the first place? Sen Obama wrote about this in his campaign book.
All of us are familiar with what it's like to fly, particularly in tourist. It sucks. I hate flying. Flying in the corporate plane is really nice, however. I love flying that way. I went on a business trip to Kentucky years ago when we still had a corporate plane that was not reserved exclusively for executives. We left in the morning, spent several hours touring a facility in Kentucky and discussing process details and was home for dinner. Really nice and so much more efficient. So it is tempting that when a friend makes his personal jet available for you to make a business trip, you might take advantage of the offer, particularly if it lets you get back in time to catch your daughter's soccer match.