How is it that if I download a song for my private use I could face $600,000 in fines, but politicians and political parties use songs all the time at their events without the artists permission?

If its fair use, there doesn't seem to be anything fair about that..

Edit: WTF, this shit was answered very nicely in like 5 minutes and it still makes the front page? Also I never realized the large number of people who see an AskReddit with one thousand upvotes and hundreds of comments, and without reading the first answer, still post it. Like WTF, does reddit not read shit? ... don't answer that