The election cycle and its news have been disrupted. When they come back, there will be arguments against Big Money influencing elections. There's a lot to that, including the fact that the Democrat Party actually has more big donors and fewer individual donors than does the Republican Party. But money is everywhere for everyone.

I met a legislator here last year who explained it as "fuck you money." A political action committee (PAC) will pick their candidate and that's all well fine and good. But they also give some money to the other candidate. In case of an upset, they can still point to having been supporters. And they were, just noticeably much less so... That, too, is their right because Money is Speech.

MONEY IS SPEECH

For over 2000 years, money has been a medium – sometimes the medium – of communication, especially political speech. The German Democratic Republic honored Karl Marx on its 100 DM notes from 1971 until 1990. On the other hand, the privately-owned Clydesdale Bank of Scotland issued a ₤50 note celebrating Adam Smith.

The coins and paper of the American colonies, states, and central governments carried a host of political messages, from “Mind Your Business” to “We Are One.”

According to University of Texas scholar, Denise Schmandt-Besserat, writing evolved from the use of clay tokens to keep track of livestock, beer, and other farm goods. The tokens go back to 7500 BCE. Eventually, the tokens were impressed on clay containers into which the tokens themselves were stored. Cuneiform writing evolved about 3500 BCE from these symbols. The oldest known writing on clay tablets are inventory lists and promises to pay. The oldest known epic, the Gilgamesh, is dated to 1000 years later.

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MONEY AS PRESS AND SPEECH
The notes of the American colonies in revolt announced “American Congress / We are One” and “Mind Your Business” and “When it is over, then we will rest” (Cessante Vento Conquiescemus) and “Issued in Defence of American Liberty”. The North Carolina $40 note of 1778 honored “Freedom of Speech and Liberty of the Press.”

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MONEY AS SPEECH AND PEACEMAKING
In fact, money did not begin with trade, trade did not begin economic calculation, and the true power of money is not what you can get for it – though that is, indeed, powerful – but what it says to you and for you. ... Historically, in human and perhaps proto-human development, friendship came from the exchange of gifts. When strangers met, giving and receiving almost anything at all avoided conflict.

Fundamentally, the value in money is that it allows us to make peace.

https://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/2...