Does cynicism short-circuit thinking?

A headline in Roll Call about the #MaydayPAC left me, well, scratching my head: “Super PAC for Campaign Finance Reform Swallowed by Fat Cats.”

Remember, these “fat cats” are spending their money to reduce their own political influence. If we’re successful, their investment will have lessened their power to influence politics. Not to zero, of course. And likely not to the influence of “the average joe.” But certainly much much less than they have in this SuperPAC democracy.

I talk about the nature of this sacrifice at the end of my essay for Medium:

A billionaire who spends his or her money to reduce her own influence is giving us, the People, something enormously valuable: our democracy back. It’s not that we need to be grateful for that gift. But I do believe we should respect it. We need them to make this reform possible. They need us to understand its effect, even if we can never be certain of its motive: They will have less, so we can have more.