Campaigns Are Not Potato Chips
The Monkey Cage's Joshua Tucker simultaneously makes a great joke (via his headline) and demolishes the popular talking point about political campaigns costing less than Americans spend on potato chips.
- Potatoes do not have to spend time or effort soliciting donations so they can be converted to potato chips.
- Once purchased, people rarely lobby potato chips for favors in enacting preferential legislation.
- Potato chips rarely, if ever, face trade-offs between trying to please the individual who bought them, their constituents, and the country at large. They can just simply be oh-so-tasty.
- Anyone in the United States is allowed to buy potato chips, not just citizens. Indeed, even children and foreigners can purchase potato chips.
- Potato chips are accessible to all citizens, rich and poor alike (with the possible exception of people dealing with cholesterol issues).
- Sheldon Adelson doesn’t purchase $15 million worth of potato chips for his own personal use (at least I hope not).
About the Author
David Frum
David Frum is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor. He is the author of eight books, including most recently the e-book WHY ROMNEY LOST and his first novel Patriots, published in April 2012.
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