You want real health care reform? You want real environmental and financial

[alfredo]

reform? Public funding of elections must be pushed. Take the robber barons out of the equation.

A simple $2 check off on your taxes is all you need to do. Nobody's freedom of speech is being infringed upon because the check off will appear on tax forms for businesses.

That money won't come out of your return. It is just earmarking it for federal elections.


What do you think?

[Joe Chi Minh]

K&R

[Joe Chi Minh]

1. K&R twice (virtual, perforce)

[midnight]

2. Sounds reasonable..... No other monies allowed, and this pool is distributed

equally amongst any candidates running?

[alfredo]

7. Bring back the Fairness doctrine too.

[undeterred]

Campaign Finance Reform

would give us real representation.

[Oregone]

3. Pair that with 1% of the population not being allowed to run, and Im on board

(the upper 1%)

Hey, theyve had their chance, and theyve failed time again.


Too many conflicts of interest

[alfredo]

9. their money won't buy them office because they have to adhere to the

finance laws.

[midnight]

4. Ok

Sounds reasonable..... No other monies allowed, and this pool is distributed equally amongst any candidates running?

[alfredo]

8. Yes. The aggregate of polls following debates will determine who will

continue to receive funding. Under 5% after the first debate, you go home. 10% after the second debate, and so on until the top two are selected. In the Primaries the states will receive funding depending on the number of districts, and in the case of senate races, population. That can be adjusted depending on the cost of media buys. You can't buy media time outside of your state, even if that media audience is in your state. This last rule doesn't apply to Presidential races.

[lxlxlxl]

5. THANK YOU...but do we realize what we are up against? links inside

I think for the first time in my life, I'm realizing just how fucked we are without CFR. How incremental the Health care reform is, the war machine's control of FP, and a media that is obsessed with only itself...etc...etc...

I asked a question a few weeks ago about what organizations post-mccain feingold were out there and was told to look at wikipedia lol. CFR is

We have to get the money out of the system. All other complaints are feeding epiphenomena.

http://www.youtube.com/user/publicampaign
http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4741359

[alfredo]

6. Public financing is CFR. Our lawmakers won't have to spend most of their

time on the phone begging for money. They can spend more time porking their campaign staff.

As long as they have to go to big business for money, the monied interests will control capitol hill.

[Capn Sunshine]

10. WHAT!!! Then we'd be no better than Canadians!

You don't want THAT , do you?

[Greyhound]

11. This would go a long way to fixing the systemic problem.

I think another potential solution is to draft public servants. A simple random lottery, your SSN is picked and you're our new Representative for the next two years. Congratulations Ms. Housekeeper you're the new President for the next four years.

I can't imagine regular people could do any worse, plus having to sell your soul to get re-elected wouldn't be possible.

[JimWis]

12. K&R - I agree 110% - and I always check the box. But - as an

accountant and tax preparer - I would estimate that 1 or 2 percent of the individual returns I prepare have the box checked. Most don't want it checked. I think we almost need some sort of informational advertising to make them better understand what it means, etc. Even after I explain it, they say no. For whatever reasons they may have.

[alfredo]

19. That wouldn't be the total source of funds.

[fascisthunter]

13. Now that's what I'm Talkin' 'bout

[alfredo]

20. My letter to the editor. This pre editing by my in house editor: my wife.

The current debate over health care reform illustrates just how much influence large corporate donors have on legislation. One good example is Senator Joe Lieberman's opposition to reform. If you look at the list of his big donors you will see that much of his money comes from the big health insurance companies.

Healthcare is just one issue. What about the environment? One of the big opponents of environmental responsibility is Sen. Inhofe. If you look at his big donors you will see a lot of oil money flowing into his coffers.

This big money is perverting our government. Lawmakers can no longer afford to do what is in our our interests. If they did, they won't have the money to be reelected. They have to dance to the tune of big business interests.

We have to take the big money out of politics. We have to go to public financing of elections. I know some lawmakers like Sen Mc Connell won't like it, but I have given up caring about what he thinks.

If the wholesale bribery of our lawmakers continues, more wealth will be redistributed from the poor and working class into the hands of the ultra wealthy. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said, "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

Remember, business is not democratic, it is authoritarian. Democracy is incompatible with the corporate mindset. The less influence the corporations have over our government, the more secure our freedoms.

Demand public financing of elections.

[fascisthunter]

21. .

[alfredo]

24. Made major changes.

[Romulox]

14. Don't see how this helps. The President opted out of public funding,

because he could secure much, much more from private donors...

[alfredo]

15. But he doesn't write the laws. It is Congress thst is most vulnerable to

bribes by lobbyist.

[Mithreal]

16. Enthusiastic K & R

[donheld]

17. It's the only way!

[alfredo]

18. As long as corporations can dangle the money in front of politicians, our

concerns won't be heard. Cold hard cash is quite persuasive.

[Odin2005]

22. I agree 100%

Corporate money must be removed from govermnment entirely!

[johnlucas]

23. That SOUNDS good but...

What's to stop individuals who work for corporations from sending their money under their own name?
They have more so they can send more even if there's a cap.
A poor person will never be represented because they simply have little money to work with. All of their money is on an exact budget just to be able to survive from day to day.

If you're talking about a collection from your yearly taxes, then what about the unemployed and homeless? They don't pay income taxes because they don't have incomes. Hard to pay those kinds of taxes without a job or even a home. So they too will never be represented.

People fail to realize that this whole universe is setup under the rules "Might Makes Right".
Those with the numbers either individually or collectively will run the show.
This is why combat sports tend to have weight classes. Your best bantamweight will never match up against a heavyweight because the weight & mass (both numbers) of the heavyweight will overwhelm the bantamweight if they fight in the same manner. The smaller guy needs something to even up the fight.

The ONLY way to get governmental bullies to respect you is to show off your numbers. 300,000,000 to 300 are formidable odds even IF each of those 300 are as powerful as 10 of the 300,000,000.
This is why there is so much put into keeping the populace divided under every category known on earth. The more division & infighting you get the less you will ever work together for a common cause making sure the manipulative few get to carry on with their activities.

Human beings are naturally at odds with each other by design. The only way human beings unite is if they see themselves in the other. The other is no longer "Them" but "Us". It may very well be that there will never be any real progress until humanity isn't humanity anymore. Maybe the capacity for this overall change is not within us.

Is humanity honest enough to see itself for what it really is? Doing that is just the 1st step.
John Lucas