"They call it run-off because they 'run off' with your money... "

There's a lot going on this week in politics, but there's one number I can't get out of my head:

$1.4 Billion.

That's how much money was spent on the two Georgia Senate seats in the 2020 and 2022 elections. 

Two Senate seats. Six elections, because Georgia's system, created so that white conservatives could stay in power, requires you to win NOT ONE BUT TWO elections if no one gets 50% of the vote. So they have run-off elections--that in Warnock's case produced the same results. (Warnock's original term was two years because he was replacing an appointed Senator, who had replaced a resigned blah blah blah.)

Warnock won in Nov., 2020. Then again in Jan., 2021. Then in Nov., 2022. Then again in Dec., 2022. 

All this time, money was pouring into these races. Democrats ended up spending a lot more, but that in part was because they could raise a lot more. People all over the country sent money to Warnock. I did, once. And my emailbox exploded with pleas for more money for not only Warnock but a bunch of other D's. 

It's a messed-up system. Nobody likes it. Everyone will agree there's too much money in politics. The problem is that politicians don't have much incentive to change it, and plenty of incentive to keep asking for more money. And I hate when people blame "the media" but... the media also profits, a lot, from this system. So we see relatively few questions there about whether this is a good way to spend our wealth. 

$1.4 billion. That's a lot of money. I can think of a few better places we could've spent it.