I saw the “Demon Sheep” ad put out by Carly Fiorina’s Senate campaign early on, because my son works in politics and he sent me a YouTube clip. I thought it was embarrassingly tacky from the start, but when the red-eyed demonic sheep peered out from behind a tree, followed by a guy crawling around in a flimsy costume that looked like the special effects budget had run out before they finished filming, it crossed over into the realm of the incomprehensible. As in, what kind of mind would think that generating something like this would cast them in a favorable light?

My immediate reaction was that this fit in with the case that could be made that the recent Supreme Court decision overturning limits on political campaign contributions (widely seen as benefiting corporations and unions at the expense of the average American) wasn’t necessarily all that bad for our democracy. A lot of people get blinded by the effects of having too much money at their disposal. In this instance, Fiorin­a — whose only credible claim to run for the Senate is that she used to head a high-tech company (Hewlett Packard) — has become the laughingstock of the Internet, her opponent Tom Campbell — a smart, decent guy lacking in the go-for-the-jugular instinct necessary to survive in American politics — had a baaa-nanza in fundraising as a direct result of the publicity generated by the ad, and gainful employment was provided for the entertainment industry denizens who made the video.

I’m not thrilled about the idea of zillions of corporate dollars furthering poisoning the well of our political system, but the damage has already been done. As the immortal Molly Ivins wrote, You Got To Dance With Them What Brung You. An effective way to fight back is to shine a spotlight on the whole system of campaign contributions and how they influence legislation. Let the money flow freely, but bring real transparency to the whole sordid system of lobbying and influence peddling. If members of Congress get the idea that they can run but they can’t hide, we might — for a change — begin to see some real change.