Jon of WiredOpinion is a 16-year old, left-leaning blogger who recently went to the America-Israel Public Affairs Committeee (AIPAC) policy conference. His cynicism re: PACs in general is refreshing, and he comes from a rather different political viewpoint, but his blog posts from the conference are interesting nonetheless: [Prologue | Day #1 | His conclusions | Still hates money in politics].
I think he's missing most of the picture if he believes that all or even the majority of AIPAC's power comes from money, and he's surprised by some things that shouldn't have surprised him - but hey, he's 16. Unfortunately Jon missed President Bush's AIPAC speech, which was pretty good. Would have been curious to hear his reaction.
Why is cynicism in a 16 year old refreshing? Can't children be children any more?
A 16 year old is not a child - as Jon's writing makes clear.
And while cynicism in general in an unbecoming trait, cynicism with respect to PACs is not a bad idea at any age.
Pretty good stuff from a lefty.
Mr. Katzman,
Thank you very much for the exposure (and the compliment). You may be very right about my perception of the power of AIPAC as it relates to its resources, but I figure I can't be too careful. The big donors were the ones sitting up next to all the podiums, their names, words, and even faces were printed in a very expensive looking booklet given to every person who attended the conference, and their names were shown on the big screens between speakers. The money of the organization was at least altering its agenda, if not providing the organization with its enormous clout like I suggested, and that puts the hands of the organization itself in the hands of a select few people.
My grandparents are two of those people. That's the connection I alluded to in the piece. My grandfather is Mayer Mitchell, a former president of AIPAC. I hate to name drop, but that's how I had the access I had.
Again, thanks very much for the link, and thank you all for the feedback.
-Jon