Random thought on campaign finance reform

[tbyg52]

What would happen if we still had campaign funding by contribution, but the limit was drastically lowered, say to $50, and the rules changed to say you could only spend the money you raised, not your own money? Ah, never mind, that second would probably be ruled a violation of free speech.....

Well, I"m gonna post this anyway, because I continue to be appalled by how (relatively) little money it takes to buy the influence that gets you lots of money. Tens of thousands gets you millions, hundreds of thousands gets you billions. Best investment out there.

[sam sarrha]

1. we need a Citizens lobbyist to collect and distribute Citizen Bribes

we got to compete with the thieves and thugs to even break even

corporate contributions are nothing else but Bribes..period.. bribes with other peoples money, the shareholders without asking them.. made after the CEO and board of directors who authorized it maxed out their own contributions.. Patiently ILLEGAL

[AlGore-08.com]

2. Two other big parts of the problem are access to media and length of campaign

If TV and radio were required to set aside a much larger slice of free air time to all candidates, then candidates wouldn't need to buy so many 30 second ads (or half hour infomercials, or whatever). It probably wouldn't be found constitutional, but I think the number of ads a candidate can buy should be limited as well. (I also think some kind of truth in advertising/libel laws with teeth in them would be necessary, so that candidates couldn't get away with claiming their opponent supports X, based on a single vote taken 20 years ago.)

Additionally, there should be a limitation to the amount of time that the actual campaign can take place - - we're in the beginnings of a 2 year long campaign that will end in November, 2008. The amount of money it takes to remain competitive over that length of time excludes most candidates from being serious contenders. If there was a national law saying primaries could only be X months before the general, and that candidates could not form exploratory committees more than 3 (or 2 or even 1) month before the primaries, that would also limit the amount of money needed.

The problem would be, of course, that folks who want to run would still be trying to achieve name recognition and support before the campaign officially started. Well, if fund raising prowess and early announcing were not open to them as a way to prove they were Presidential material, maybe more potential candidates would try to gain support the way we'd all like them to - - by coming up with meaningful solutions to the nation's problems.

[mudesi]

3. In Canada we have public campaign financing

Each vote received in an election equals X amount of dollars to the political party. This is a fairly recent change, and it has allowed the Green Party to become a somewhat legitimate competitor.