The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

So one thing that struck me last year is how much the media piled on the wh and then in keeping with that, there were all these articles on the web about how much money biden was raising vs mr t right before the election so when I saw this title I thought that can't be. So if 2016 was bought does that mean that the dems bought 2020? How could they do that, dems are poor right. So I google "biden vs trump expenditure" and the first art (from npr) says trump raised 300 million more. Ok, lot of money to me but overall % not that much. But then I start reading the other articles (including left leaning rags) and there's a lot of controversy and a lot of articles just weeks before the election that biden was way ahead of t raising money and t was mismanaging all his money and so on and so on. So which is it? The media has made everything the gop and wh done in the past 4 years look like one series of lies, including making it look like the democrats won by a landslide and it turns out they're just as much liars as anyone. Is there money in politics, sure, but no amount of money can battle the 4th estate with an agenda and that's why nothing will change because there is money to be made creating documentaries like this. And without something to write about, bloggers and fake journalists would have to get real jobs.

When Palast isn't grandstanding, there's some compelling evidence against conservative Republicans' meddling in elections. Unfortunately, his bias levied against only one side gives less weight to the arguments he presents throughout the documentary. He commits the same sin that plagues many investigators and investigative reporters-he begins with a hypothesis and chases only evidence that supports it. What should have occurred was an attempt to gather evidence of interference throughout the various voting systems in place throughout the U. S.

Ultimately, the bias, the constant noise in the soundtrack, the unpleasant animation, and Palast's general insufferable affect make this documentary nearly unwatchable.

I really cannot give "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" at perfect 10/10 because it is so irritatingly disjointed and confusing. While Palast, who has been on these kinds of issues since before 2000 has done a lot of investigating, there is something about what he says of the way he says it that undercuts his message.

He blabbers on like a derelict, but if you listen you begin to see what he is getting at. The points are that he sees monied interests in the US as trying to remove people they do not like from the election roles so they cannot vote. That seems bad, and it is bad according to our democracy meme which says that everyone can vote. But the examples he uses are often talking with people to feeble to think or to know what is going on. I am for everyone voting, in fact I think it ought to be a law as it is in Australia, but if someone cannot git it together to get an ID, or to verify their registration how much sympathy am I supposed to have for them?

Finally, after all that talk Palast really starts the movie at roughly the 30 minute mark with a history of the Koch family, and how they initially stole their money from the Indians, Native Americans, and how they had the help of Bob Dole to do that. This segment of the movie shows how old crimes created old money which took over our system and still runs it today to a large extent. It is a clear and logical story, which not much of the rest of this movie is.

In my opinion Palast spends too much time on these election shenanigans for the simple reason that if someone wants to vote if they take the time to see it through they can vote. I actually think that voter ID would make our elections better, but perhaps some help could be given such as having the state governments which run the elections have to pay for it. The bottom line is that it is to both party's' advantages that elections be fair.

This movie is not really entertaining or funny. It might have been 20 years ago, but there is too much going on and it goes to quick to really explain well the issues that he is trying to cast light on, and he spends too much time looking at the wrong issues with the wrong people.

I suggest that it is an important documentary to watch if you are not familiar with these issues, and I rate "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" a 9/10.