For fairer campaigns: full, public funding-The current system fuels the corruption of democracy

[babylonsister]

For fairer campaigns: full, public funding
The current system fuels the corruption of democracy.
By Mark Lange and Ellen Rose

from the October 29, 2007 edition


San Francisco and Philadelphia - After Hillary Clinton fundraiser Norman Hsu was discovered to be a fugitive from justice, we could assume no candidate will ever again accept large donations from anyone who pleaded no contest to grand theft charges. But we'd be avoiding the real question.

Who compels fundraisers to launder and bundle money to win elections? We, the voters, do – by believing that money from political action committees (PACs) and private sources can fund honorable political campaigns. We've traded the overt bribery of the 19th-century political machine for a craven packaged politics where pay-to-play prospers under a respectable veneer. Until we overhaul our public financing system and get private money out of politics entirely, we will continue to sponsor the corruption of democracy.

Newspapers run stories on the presidential race that equate cash with credibility. The cost of a House or Senate seat has quadrupled in constant dollars since 1976. Only six one-hundredths of one percent of voting-age citizens provided nearly 60 percent of funding for the 2000 presidential primaries. Such extreme concentration of influence resembles oligarchy, not representative government. It makes money a proxy for popular will.

When the Supreme Court in 1976 protected unlimited campaign spending as a form of free speech, we began to protect the fortunate few, deny equal protection to the many, and drown out the voices of "ordinary" citizens. Any ethic of equal representation demands that we blunt money's disproportionate leverage as a means of expression.

Consider the merits of a voluntary (and constitutional) full public-financing system for all political campaigns. Candidates would voluntarily agree to decline private funding, since the Court prevents them from being mandated to do so. They would qualify for public funding by raising a significant number of individual $5 contributions, to demonstrate relevance and viability. And should they face a privately funded opponent, they'd get "fair fight" funds to be fully competitive.

Why? To level democracy's tilted table. Encourage a broader array of donors and candidates. Improve the accountability of government. Remove the armor of incumbency. And preempt public spending from being distended – and policy from being distorted – by private donor and PAC manipulation.

It can't be done? It's already happening. Globally, 20 advanced democracies have public financing. Lawmakers and governors on both sides of the aisle in 14 states have launched it in some form. Arizona, Connecticut, and Maine provide it for all statewide and legislative races.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1029/p09s01-coop.html

[rodeodance]

1. When Repugs hear Europeans are doing something -------the smear machine ribs up.

[Adelante]

2. Excellent article

I notice they refer to Bundlers as "private money" - it's probably a good frame.

[Adelante]

3. k

:kick: