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This idea keeps sticking with me—that we have just seen a transformation in US national politics, from "campaign finance" to "campaign financialization," from funding campaigns to campaigns as vehicles for explicit investment and speculation. https://nathanschneider.info/2024/11/the-age-of-campaign-financialization-is-here/
Does this seem right?
@ntnsndr I think so. There’s a precursor to this in the water, railroad, and mining politics of California, which I think is partly where tech got these ideas. I used to think myself a bit arcane for reading so much 19th century and early 20th century progressive history but this country seems more and more headed toward contemporary versions of problems a previous generation thought they solved
@natematias Totally. Basically everything I know about political strategy comes from 19th century cooperativists.
@ntnsndr I’ve felt the discourse “how much will X cost” is better served as a question of “what are we paying for as upkeep and prior debts” versus “what are we investing in for the future”
@ntnsndr It's less of a transformation and more the logical conclusion of citizen's united. It's been this way for a long time. It's just worse now that the wealth distribution is even more lopsided.
@ntnsndr yes, although I suspect I may disagree with you on which side has more aggressively pursued financialization. Democratic campaigns, for a few cycles now, have become naked cash grabs for political consultants—a vehicle for transferring money from well meaning donors, small and large, to consultants. winning is secondary
Love Globally @ntnsndr politics as an asset class is insightful re their interest and approach
@ntnsndr 
"The more you let financialization run amok, the more you end up with a nihilistic culture that values nothing more than the next chance for a bit of upside.
Among all the risks that this election poses to democracy, the slide into financialization seems to be creeping in undetected."
@ntnsndr
See here:
Golden rule : the investment theory of party competition and the logic of money-driven political systems by Thomas Ferguson
