Post by kjlowry on Jun 27, 2012 13:45:42 GMT -5
My rant = Do you want fair government that responds to the will of the people?
1. Make ALL campaign finances come from public funds! No contributions from ANY individuals, special interest groups, unions, or corporations! We can decide our votes from debates, interviews, and campaign speeches...we don't need billions to be spent on TV advertising! Paid TV ads are all lies anyway!
2. Outlaw lobbyists! Legislators can decide on their positions related to proposed bills and regulations by listening to citizen input, sworn expert testimony in public hearings, and doing their own research (their paid staff will do it anyway).
The oligarchs will try to convince the public that it will just cost too much taxpayer money to outlaw private money in politics! BUT that is not true. In 2010, incumbents had to spend more than $9 million on average to hold on to their Senate seats and almost $1.6 million to keep the average House seat. Given the astonishing cost of these campaigns, most members of Congress have no choice but to take contributions from anyone willing to fund their
campaigns—even if those very donors have business before them and expect a return in legislation for their campaign investments.
Public funding might be the biggest bargain the American taxpayer will ever get. The total cost for all federal races—President, Senate and House—will be approximately $1.8 billion per year, which works out to just $6 for each of the 300 million citizens of our country. This would not be paid directly by voters, but would come out of the federal budget from revenue raised specifically to support public funding. When you consider the costs of the current private funding system—including the huge amount of money awarded to special interests—it’s truly a great deal for America.
So for a grievance...I like your short, sweet quote frankleespeaking, but I think I would make it past tense..."has undermined our democracy". Then proceed with how to address it as I laid out above? kjl
1. Make ALL campaign finances come from public funds! No contributions from ANY individuals, special interest groups, unions, or corporations! We can decide our votes from debates, interviews, and campaign speeches...we don't need billions to be spent on TV advertising! Paid TV ads are all lies anyway!
2. Outlaw lobbyists! Legislators can decide on their positions related to proposed bills and regulations by listening to citizen input, sworn expert testimony in public hearings, and doing their own research (their paid staff will do it anyway).
The oligarchs will try to convince the public that it will just cost too much taxpayer money to outlaw private money in politics! BUT that is not true. In 2010, incumbents had to spend more than $9 million on average to hold on to their Senate seats and almost $1.6 million to keep the average House seat. Given the astonishing cost of these campaigns, most members of Congress have no choice but to take contributions from anyone willing to fund their
campaigns—even if those very donors have business before them and expect a return in legislation for their campaign investments.
Public funding might be the biggest bargain the American taxpayer will ever get. The total cost for all federal races—President, Senate and House—will be approximately $1.8 billion per year, which works out to just $6 for each of the 300 million citizens of our country. This would not be paid directly by voters, but would come out of the federal budget from revenue raised specifically to support public funding. When you consider the costs of the current private funding system—including the huge amount of money awarded to special interests—it’s truly a great deal for America.
So for a grievance...I like your short, sweet quote frankleespeaking, but I think I would make it past tense..."has undermined our democracy". Then proceed with how to address it as I laid out above? kjl