Is a term that was coined by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. in his article "The Rise of the Plutomores" in the May 2001 issue of
The American Spectator.
A plutomore (
plutos = wealth +
moros = foolish) is a specific (albeit sadly common)
politican who has flourished because of poorly thought out
campaign finance reform (cfr) law. According to Tyrrell plutomores come in three flavors:
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Rich people - best exemplified by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virgina. Since cfr regulations guided by court decisions allow unlimited contributions by candidates to their own campaigns, yet restrict the amount others can give, a special burden is placed at the feet of any average person who can't come up with much money on his own.
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The dynasties - best exemplified by the Bushes, Cuomos or Kennedys. In this case even if the family isn't wealthy it doesn't matter. The next generation of candidates inherit the previous one's contact book and beat the hell out of any challenger; because even if contributions are limited to $2000 a person, the candidate with the largest black book wins.
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The last form is the "Capitol Hill automaton" best exemplified by Trent Lott or Tom Daschle. This group is largely like the dynasty group, the only difference is that the candidate inherits his contact book from his retiring boss rather than his father.
Isn't this all sad? One last statistic to throw at you: In 1977 the combined wealth of the top ten senators was
$133 million. Today that number is
$1.8 billion.