I received this table in my inbox. It reflects the spending statistics for the state of Wisconsin.
It doesn't really matter who spent what on which attack ad.
What matters to me is that more than ten million dollars has been or will be spent on advertisements and hate.
GroupAttack ad spending National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)$1,717,581.00 U.S.Chamber of Commerce (not your local Chamber)$2,047,863.00 Americans for Prosperity (backed by the Koch brothers)$1,998,067.00 Crossroads GPS (Karl Rove's group)$3,939,029.00 The 60+ Association (whose spokesperson is Pat Boone)$520,800.00 NFIB$145,587.00 TOTAL$10,833,445.00
Almost eleven million dollars? In one small state alone?
What could almost eleven million dollars could to fight child hunger in this country?
What if that almost eleven million dollars was spent on a new start-up business in Wisconsin? Imagine how many jobs could be created.
Imagine what almost eleven million dollars could do for Wisconsin schools? or the inner city parks? or the gorgeous Wisconsin open spaces and public land?
What if almost eleven million dollars was split up among neighborhood associations throughout Wisconsin?
All of this money bought thousands of minutes to broadcast hate within Wisconsin. There's no telling (literally) how much money has been spent to purchase minutes to broadcast hate through out the country.
Hate is not going to solve our problems.
Hate will never make us happy.
Hate only breeds more hate. With this kind of financial backing, there's no telling what this kind of hate will create.
What can we do?
- We can turn off the television and radio when hate is on.
- We can turn our attention to kindness.
- When we hear hate, we can give love either in the form of a quiet prayer for the hater or simply saying the loving kindness mediation.
It's not easy.
Nothing worthwhile is.
But no one's coming to fix this.
It's up to us to stop this madness before we are eaten alive by our own hatred.
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