Are Big Endorsements, Money, and Name Recognition Taking Power from Voters?
“If “election integrity” is the selling point, then personal compliance with identity and registration rules is not optional—it is the baseline”
Guest Opinion by Pat Bishop SR., J.D., Major, U.S. Army (Retired)
When campaign donors and endorsements from big businesses start looking more like an investment portfolio, it's not politics anymore. It's business. And business is booming in Alabama.
Evidence suggests that big money, high-profile endorsements, and name recognition are increasingly influential in U.S. politics, often shifting the focus away from local voter concerns and toward nationalized narratives, wealthy donors, and celebrity influence. While voters still cast the final ballots, the range of choices and the information available to them are significantly shaped by these powerful, often non-local forces.
Candidates increasingly rely on, and are influenced by, out-of-state money rather than local, small-dollar donors.
Name recognition frequently acts as a signal of a candidate’s viability, drawing attention away from lesser-known candidates who might have stronger local roots or better-aligned policy stances.
These factors do not directly take away the legal right to vote, but they can diminish the impact of individual votes by narrowing the field of viable candidates to those backed by significant funds or celebrities, effectively allowing a small segment of the population to disproportionately shape the political agenda.
Alabama, please don’t be fooled. I am a lifelong advocate for marginalized and “othered” communities.
Here are the facts:
If “election integrity” is the selling point, then personal compliance with identity and registration rules is not optional—it is the baseline.
Accountability is not optional.
Hypocrisy is real in Alabama…Why not choose honesty?
It’s not about me…it’s about you! I want to hear from you. I need your vote on May 19th and November 3rd to send a common-sense military veteran to Montgomery!
Alabama, don’t let life whoop you twice! Learn the lesson the first time. You can’t keep making the same mistake and call it bad luck.
Voting is not just a passive exercise. You have to be an active participant, so you don’t just show up and vote when it’s a presidential election or it’s a state election, but you have to vote in those municipal elections and those special elections because each election is for you to elect people who are making decisions over your life.
It’s not about me…it’s about you! I want to hear from you. I need your vote on May 19th and November 3rd to send a common-sense military veteran to Montgomery!
Alabama, don’t let life whoop you twice! Learn the lesson the first time. You can’t keep making the same mistake and call it bad luck.
Pat Bishop is a a military veteran, law enforcement officer, mediator, antiterrorism expert, Christian, husband and father. He is currently seeking the office of Lt. Governor of Alabama. For more information on Bishop, visit his campaign website or follow him on social media.
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