Take the Money and Run
The idiom Take the money and run has referred to everything from being satisfied with what one has achieved in some endeavor or negotiation, to grabbing a quick gain, to the more literal definition described in the Steve Miller Band song about two young lovers named Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue: Robbing someone and taking off with the loot. (They got the money, hey, you know they got away. They headed down south and they’re still running today, singing, go on, take the money and run. Hoo-hoo-hoo.) These days, a similarly titled story about Billy Joe and Bobby Sue could refer to the names on a political ticket, because there’s only one two-step process to seek public office in America: Take the money. And run.
+ It wasn’t always this way. As Danny Hakim explains in the NYT (Gift Article), “For a brief moment in American history, the rich didn’t control politics. Back in 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Congress passed new campaign finance restrictions that would have largely eliminated the ability of wealthy people to buy elections.” As we know, those restrictions were obliterated by the Citizens United case. But before that, there was another case that poked holes in the law. “A Supreme Court decision that most Americans probably never heard of. Fifty years ago, in a case called Buckley v. Valeo, the court upheld many aspects of the post-Watergate campaign finance law, clearing the way for public financing of presidential elections and empowering the new Federal Election Commission. But it eviscerated other parts of the law, leaving the rich with their own set of rules. The court ruled that wealthy Americans could spend unlimited amounts of money to independently support candidates and causes they favored.” A Look Inside the Case That Enshrined Political Power for Billionaires. “Flash forward to the 2024 presidential campaign. Six of the nation’s wealthiest billionaires spent more than $100 million apiece to help get another billionaire, Donald J. Trump, elected president.” (Giving life to another famous adage: Money talks, bullshit walks.)
+ Whether you’re hoping for a red wave or a blue wave, the truth is, a green wave is what you’re likely to get. Political strategy has been reduced to hoping your billionaires spend more than their billionaires. While we’re all focusing on Trump’s effort to build his ballroom, the real story is about the people who have already built several of their own, where, if you listen closely, you can hear them singing, Go on, take the money and run. Hoo-hoo-hoo…
