PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

These pages deal with politics in the broadest sense: how are politics affecting every aspect of American culture and the quality of our public discourse? Are we dealing with our collective problems with any sort of rationality or just shouting slogans at one another?

The biggest change in recent years in politics, aside from right wing radio and right wing news channels, is the entrance of outside groups into the election process and the decision by the Supreme Court allowing corporations to make direct donations to campaigns (the Citizens United decision).

An “outside” group is one not directly involved with the opposing candidates but one formed for the sole purpose of trying to influence votes. By law, these groups are not supposed to coordinate their activities with the candidates. In 2010, they ran hundreds of thousands of campaign commercials trying to poison the well for any Democrat, moderate or otherwise. There are outside groups on both sides of most issues, but the explosion of influence money has been on the Republican right, with the Koch brothers putting many millions into the mix. By some estimates, nearly 500 million dollars was spent to influence the 2010 elections. The most important step was to undermine the Obama presidency, starting from near the moment he was elected.

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