Opinions
And the money keeps rolling in
In 50 years since JFK, cash became king
We no longer debate freely new and potentially soaring ideas. Politicians are primarily focused on how much money they need to raise for their next campaign. (Photo by Bigstock)
Watching the 50-year-old CBS black and white broadcast from 1963, the weekend when Kennedy was assassinated, made me realize how different those times were. I remember vividly the nation and much of the world standing still for those four days. I watched as leaders of 80 nations including General Charles De Gaulle and Emperor Haile Selassie walked behind the caisson carrying President Kennedy’s body from the White House to St. Matthews Cathedral. I was struck by how the event was reported. We were able to actually watch much of what was happening without the constant chatter of an annoying anchorperson. Pictures were allowed to speak for themselves. Today we would hear someone like Wolf Blitzer asking some inane question of some irrelevant commentator telling us what they thought of what we were seeing.
I reflected on how different politics is today. We no longer debate freely new and potentially soaring ideas. Politicians are primarily focused on how much money they need to raise for their next campaign. They watch every word they utter knowing that with social media and cable news it will be broadcast over and over and either raise money or cost them support.
Each day as the 20-30 email requests for money from candidates, political action committees and political parties arrive in my inbox, I am reminded of the song from the show “Evita,” “And the money keeps rolling in.”
“And the money kept rolling in from every side. Eva’s pretty hands reached out and they reached wide. Now you may feel it should have been a voluntary cause but that’s not the point my friends. When the money keeps rolling in you don’t ask how. Think of all the people guaranteed a good time now Eva’s called the hungry to her, Open up the doors, never been a fund like the Foundation Eva Peron.”
The second verse of the song tells a very different story. I can’t help but compare where that money went to where the money I am asked to contribute today goes. “And the money kept rolling out in all directions, to the poor, to the weak, to the destitute of all complexions. Now cynics claim a little of the cash has gone astray but that’s not the point my friends when the money keeps rolling out. You don’t keep books. You can tell you’ve done well by the happy grateful looks, accountants only slow things down, figures get in the way, never been a lady loved as much as Eva Peron.”
Today we do keep books and the money gets accounted for, except maybe for the 501(c) 4’s, but it doesn’t go to the poor, the weak or destitute. Today it tends to make the rich richer. It pays for attack ads on TV, political consultants, and in the end even when it convinces people to vote usually they don’t love anyone.
Yearning for the good old times of Camelot isn’t reality. While Jackie Kennedy wanted us to think of Jack’s time in the White House as Camelot, reality was we still hadn’t passed a civil rights bill; we were going into Vietnam; backroom abortions were still the norm; and there was no equality for the LGBT community. But politics was different. The quest for more and more money hadn’t gotten so out of hand and serious issues could be debated. Politicians could speak their mind for better or worse without having every word get back to their constituents, translated and dissected by some TV commentator or blogger, who often has no idea what he/she is talking about.
Ronald Reagan would ask if we are better off than we were in 1963. The answer in some ways is yes. We are a more just society but we are still a society of haves and have-nots. The rich get richer and the poor don’t seem to get anywhere. Congress won’t raise the minimum wage yet the stock market has gone from 7,000 to 16,000 in five years. Mitt Romney lost an election because he called 47 percent of the population takers, but then we really haven’t given them all that much to take and the middle class is struggling just to break even.
The world is a more complex place than it was in 1963 and it seems the more money that flows into politics the worse things become. There is still a fight against universal healthcare and the rabid right wing would rather see 40 million people do without health insurance than have those who can afford it pay slightly more. Yet no one bats an eye when presidential candidates need to raise a billion dollars to run their campaigns. And the money keeps rolling in.
Letter-to-the-Editor
Candidates should pledge to nominate LGBTQ judge to Supreme Court
Presidential, Senate hopefuls need to go on the record
As soon as the final votes are cast and counted and verified after the November 2026 elections are over, the 2028 presidential cycle will begin in earnest. Polls, financial aid requests, and volunteer opportunities ad infinitum will flood the public and personal media. There will be more issues than candidates in both parties. The rending of garments and mudslinging will be both interesting and maybe even amusing as citizens will watch how candidates react to each and every issue of the day.
There is one particular item that I am hoping each candidate will be asked whether in private or in public. If a Supreme Court vacancy occurs in your potential administration, will you nominate an open and qualified LGBTQ to join the remaining eight?
Other interest groups on both sides have made similar demands over the years and have had them honored. Is it not time that our voices are raised as well? There are several already sitting judges on both state and federal benches that have either been elected statewide or approved by the U.S. Senate.
Our communities are being utilized and abused on judicial menus. Enough already! Challenge each and every candidate, regardless of their party with our honest question and see if honest answers are given. By the way … no harm in asking the one-third of the U.S. Senate candidates too who will be on ballots. Looking forward to any candidate tap dancing!
Opinions
2026 elections will bring major changes to D.C. government
Mayor’s office, multiple Council seats up for grabs
Next year will be a banner year for elections in D.C. The mayor announced she will not run. Two Council members, Anita Bonds, At-large, and Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1, have announced they will not run. Waiting for Del. Norton to do the same, but even if she doesn’t, there will be a real race for that office.
So far, Robert White, Council member at-large, and Brooke Pinto, Council member Ward 2, are among a host of others, who have announced. If one of these Council members should win, there would be a special election for their seat. If Kenyon McDuffie, Council member at-large, announces for mayor as a Democrat, which he is expected to do, he will have to resign his seat on the Council as he fills one of the non-Democratic seats there. Janeese George, Ward 4 Council member, announced she is running for mayor. Should she win, there would be a special election for her seat. Another special election could happen if Trayon White, Ward 8, is convicted of his alleged crimes, when he is brought to trial in January. Both the Council chair, and attorney general, have announced they are seeking reelection, along with a host of other offices that will be on the ballot.
Many of the races could look like the one in Ward 1 where at least six people have already announced. They include three members of the LGBTQ community. It seems the current leader in that race is Jackie Reyes Yanes, a Latina activist, not a member of the LGBTQ community, who worked for Mayor Fenty as head of the Latino Affairs Office, and for Mayor Bowser as head of the Office of Community Affairs. About eight, including the two Council members, have already announced they are running for the delegate seat.
I am often asked by candidates for an endorsement. The reason being my years as a community, LGBTQ, and Democratic, activist; and my ability to endorse in my column in the Washington Blade. The only candidate I endorsed so far is Phil Mendelson, for Council chair. While he and I don’t always agree on everything, he’s a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ community, a rational person, and we need someone with a steady hand if there really are six new Council members, out of the 13.
When candidates call, they realize I am a policy wonk. My unsolicited advice to all candidates is: Do more than talk in generalities, be specific and honest as to what you think you can do, if elected. Candidates running for a legislative office, should talk about what bills they will support, and then what new ones they will introduce. What are the first three things you will focus on for your constituents, if elected. If you are running against an incumbent, what do you think you can do differently than the person you hope to replace? For any new policies and programs you propose, if there is a cost, let constituents know how you intend to pay for them. Take the time to learn the city budget, and how money is currently being spent. The more information you have at your fingertips, the smarter you sound, and voters respect that, at least many do. If you are running for mayor, you need to develop a full platform, covering all the issues the city will face, something I have helped a number of previous mayors do. The next mayor will continue to have to deal with the felon in the White House. He/she/they will have to ensure he doesn’t try to eliminate home rule. The next mayor will have to understand how to walk a similar tightrope Mayor Bowser has balanced so effectively.
Currently, the District provides lots of public money to candidates. If you decide to take it, know the details. The city makes it too easy to get. But while it is available, take advantage of it. One new variable in this election is the implementation of rank-choice voting. It will impact how you campaign. If you attack another candidate, you may not be the second, or even third, choice, of their strongest supporters.
Each candidate needs a website. Aside from asking for donations and volunteers, it should have a robust issues section, biography, endorsements, and news. One example I share with candidates is my friend Zach Wahls’s website. He is running for United States Senate from Iowa. It is a comprehensive site, easy to navigate, with concise language, and great pictures. One thing to remember is that D.C. is overwhelmingly Democratic. Chances are the winner of the Democratic primary will win the general election.
Potential candidates should read the DCBOE calendar. Petitions will be available at the Board of Elections on Jan. 23, with the primary on June 16th, and general election on Nov. 3. So, ready, set, go!
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.
Opinions
Lighting candles in a time of exhaustion
Gunmen killed 15 people at Sydney Hanukkah celebration
In the wake of the shooting at Bondi Beach that targeted Jews, many of us are sitting with a familiar feeling: exhaustion. Not shock or surprise, but the deep weariness that comes from knowing this violence continues. It is yet another reminder that antisemitism remains persistent.
Bondi Beach is far from Washington, D.C., but antisemitism does not respect geography. When Jews are attacked anywhere, Jews everywhere feel it. We check on family and friends, absorb the headlines, and brace ourselves for the quiet, numbing normalization that has followed acts of mass violence.
Many of us live at an intersection where threats can come from multiple directions. As a community, we have embraced the concept of intersectional identity, and yet in queer spaces, many LGBTQ+ Jews are being implicitly or explicitly asked to play down our Jewishness. Jews hesitate before wearing a Magen David or a kippah. Some of us have learned to compartmentalize our identities, deciding which part of ourselves feels safest to lead with. Are we welcome as queer people only if we mute our Jewishness? Are those around us able to acknowledge that our fear is not abstract, but rooted in a lived reality, one in which our friends and family are directly affected by the rise in antisemitic violence, globally and here at home?
As a result of these experiences, many LGBTQ+ Jews feel a growing fatigue. We are told, implicitly or explicitly, that our fear is inconvenient; that Jewish trauma must be contextualized, minimized, or deferred in favor of other injustices. Certainly, the world is full of horror. And yet, we long for a world in which all lives are cherished and safe, where solidarity is not conditional on political purity or on which parts of ourselves are deemed acceptable to love.
We are now in the season of Chanuka. The story of this holiday is not one of darkness vanishing overnight. It is the story of a fragile light that should not have lasted. Chanuka teaches us that hope does not require certainty; it requires persistence and the courage to kindle a flame even when the darkness feels overwhelming.
For LGBTQ+ Jews, this lesson resonates deeply. We have survived by refusing to disappear across multiple dimensions of our identities. We have built communities, created rituals, and embraced chosen families that affirm the fullness of who we are.
To our LGBTQ+ siblings who are not Jewish: this is a moment to listen, to stand with us, and to make space for our grief. Solidarity means showing up not only when it is easy or popular, but especially when it is uncomfortable.
To our fellow Jews: your exhaustion is valid. Your fear is understandable, and so is your hope. Every candle lit this Chanuka is an act of resilience. Every refusal to hide, every moment of joy, is a declaration that hatred will not have the final word.
Light does not deny darkness. It confronts it.
As we light our candles this Chanuka season, may we protect one another and bring light to one another, even as the world too often responds to difference with violence and hate.
Joshua Maxey is the executive director of Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ synagogue.
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