Public Financing of Campaigns is the Solution to America's Growing Inequality

[rhombus]

Ask yourself: Who do our elected officials pay the most attention to -- Is it the little guy on Main street or the rich donor who forks over huge contributions to their campaigns? Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." You go where your bread is buttered. The collapse of the organized Left, particularly union membership as a countervailing force to the economic elite has helped usher in another Gilded Age in America.

The Democratic party's move to the right in the late 80s and early 90s on economic issues was a response to the huge disparity in campaign contributions which tilted strongly in the GOP's favor. Hence the formation of the DLC wing of the Democratic party-- which was mainly a cover to close the fundraising gap.

Public financing of campaigns would eliminate the economic corruption that is associated with both party's need to curry favor with their big donors. In a sense, it would help slay the corrupting goose.

All other matters are secondary. People wonder why our leaders are turning a blind eye to huge structural and systemic problems in this country. This is the heart of the problem --- money.

[Andy823]

1. I agree

But how can we do it when congress would NEVER pass a bill to make this happen, especially now with republicans in charge of the house!

[rhombus]

3. Democrats have to make this an issue

It will take persistent hammering to get the message across. Make the case to the broader public. Make it a central plank of the Democratic party's platform. The GOP shouts tax cuts, Dems should have public financing of campaigns. It is a populist issue with resonance if the case is made clearly.

Obama has to pick the ball and run with it.

[denimgirly]

6. Democrats cant even make the case to keep Medicare from being Cut

If democrats cant make the case for preventing Social Security or Medicare from being cut despite the widespread acceptance in the public then i'm not sure if they have any guts to fight to rid itself of the very thing that feeds it (RE: Campaign Finance Reform). Like republicans, most democrats are corrupt and take special itnerest money for their votes.

[elleng]

2. I agree. Won't ever happen.

x(

[Blue_In_AK]

4. America has been for sale to the highest bidder

for some time now. Here's a good piece posted at The Mudflats yesterday on this topic: http://www.themudflats.net/2010/11/06/voices-from-the-flats-kill-moloch/

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Delete - dupe

[Better Today]

7. Even if we get that, they (pols and those that corrupt them) will find some way

to subvert the intention by finding some loophole or workaround. They have no intention of letting citizens elect their government.