The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (2016)

When Donald Trump says, "This election is rigged"-he should know. His buddies are rigging it. Rolling Stone investigative reporter Greg Palast busted Jeb Bush for stealing the 2000 election... See full summary »

Directors:

Greg Palast, David Ambrose (co-director)

Writer:

Greg Palast

Stars:

Edward Asner, Richard Belzer, Rosario Dawson

Cast

Credited cast:
Edward Asner	...	Himself (as Ed Asner)
Richard Belzer	...	Himself
Rosario Dawson	...	Herself
Von Eckardt-Manzoni	...	Himself
Ice-T	...	Himself
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.	...	Himself
Willie Nelson	...	Himself
Greg Palast	...	Himself - Host
Leni Von Eckardt	...	Herself (as Leni Badpenny)
Shailene Woodley	...	Herself

Storyline

When Donald Trump says, "This election is rigged"-he should know. His buddies are rigging it. Rolling Stone investigative reporter Greg Palast busted Jeb Bush for stealing the 2000 election by purging Black voters from Florida's electoral rolls. Now Palast is back to take a deep dive into the Republicans' dark operation, Crosscheck, designed to steal a million votes by November. Crosscheck is controlled by a Trump henchman, Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State who claims his computer program has identified 7.2 million people in 29 states who may have voted twice in the same election--a felony crime. The catch? Most of these "suspects" are minorities-in other words, mainly Democratic voters. Yet the lists and the evidence remain "confidential." Palast and his investigative partner Leni Badpenny do what it takes to get their hands on the data, analyzing it to find the names of nearly one million Americans about to lose their vote by November. They hunt down and confront Kobach with ...

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Taglines:

A Tale of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: A Tale of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,511, 25 September 2016, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$28,272, 30 October 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Best Democracy

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

A little ADHD, OCD, but starts really at about 30 minute mark

I really cannot give "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" at perfect 10/10 because it is so irritatingly disjointed and confusing. While Palast, who has been on these kinds of issues since before 2000 has done a lot of investigating, there is something about what he says of the way he says it that undercuts his message.

He blabbers on like a derelict, but if you listen you begin to see what he is getting at. The points are that he sees monied interests in the US as trying to remove people they do not like from the election roles so they cannot vote. That seems bad, and it is bad according to our democracy meme which says that everyone can vote. But the examples he uses are often talking with people to feeble to think or to know what is going on. I am for everyone voting, in fact I think it ought to be a law as it is in Australia, but if someone cannot git it together to get an ID, or to verify their registration how much sympathy am I supposed to have for them?

Finally, after all that talk Palast really starts the movie at roughly the 30 minute mark with a history of the Koch family, and how they initially stole their money from the Indians, Native Americans, and how they had the help of Bob Dole to do that. This segment of the movie shows how old crimes created old money which took over our system and still runs it today to a large extent. It is a clear and logical story, which not much of the rest of this movie is.

In my opinion Palast spends too much time on these election shenanigans for the simple reason that if someone wants to vote if they take the time to see it through they can vote. I actually think that voter ID would make our elections better, but perhaps some help could be given such as having the state governments which run the elections have to pay for it. The bottom line is that it is to both party's' advantages that elections be fair.

This movie is not really entertaining or funny. It might have been 20 years ago, but there is too much going on and it goes to quick to really explain well the issues that he is trying to cast light on, and he spends too much time looking at the wrong issues with the wrong people.

I suggest that it is an important documentary to watch if you are not familiar with these issues, and I rate "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" a 9/10.