politics - general
HI all
I wrote something and it got lost in the ether!! so here I am trying again ....
What did you all think of Hillary on all the Sunday Talk shows , and how come NO ONE has mentioned that she has come out in favor of publicly financed campaigns ... even on KOS they are not talking about it... weird ... I thought that was where we were trying to get to ,, getting the money out of Politics to some degree anyway . I know her health plan is flawless in that the " public " option will be so good that everyone will opt for it , kinda like S- CHIP .... its such a good program that everyone wants to be in it !!! In that way , private insurance will he hoisted on their own petard as it were...... " you dont give me what I need , I'm looking elsewhere " ....... brilliant !!!
Ok folks ,,,, love to see you all xxxxxx
- sligowoman's diary
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Comments :
You're right, public financing of campaigns is
a great topic for discussion.
It always seemed like common sense to me -- the amount of money spent on campaigns is just insane and it doesn't seem reasonable that the candidate with more cash should be able to dominate the airwaves.
On the other hand to some extent donations reflect a candidate's popularity, particularly with caps on the amount any individual can contribute. And any plan that limits candidate spending without addressing 527 campaigning won't work.
Maybe as a temporary fix we could limit the total amount spent on advertising but only provide public funds for about half that, so candidates could still raise money. I don't know, that doesn't sound very appealing but I'm not sure what the best plan is.
Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
The key is breaking the fallacy
that money = speech.
So long as that argument is held then there can't really be constitutional restraints on contributions to campaigns. Our current campaign finance laws are pretty damn dubious constitutionally (to say nothing of their laughable effectiveness).
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Yes
that's the lynchpin. For that to work we need to provide a method for candidates to be heard that doesn't involve millions of dollars.
Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
Who doesn't get public financing
Problem I see with public financing is how we qualify someone to get it. If a candidate can run a campaign on the public's dime, what will keep 23,759 people from trying to run? I am not in favor of the current system, but I don't think public financing is ready for the task.
Not sure
Any method that requires a showing of popularity essentially just moves the money component to before public financing is accepted.
There don't seem to be any good answers here.
Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
In most systems
people have to qualify by showing some level of popular support.
Here in portland for the mayor's race if you can collect x number of $5 donations, each from a different person, then you qualify (I can't remember how many off the top of my head).
Of course this requires verification as well. You can also do some sort of run off system in which the first round is basicall open to everyone, and the second round is open to anyone who got x% o the vote the first time. With the low cost of internet communication it's possible to run a campaign quite cheap so long as you aren't competing against a campaign with millions of dollars to spend on advertising.
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.