But no, you sent us Congress -- Good God, Sir, was that fair?

[novangla]

I have sometimes wondered why I feel so uneasy about out-of-state monetary contributions on campaigns, and, really, with a lot of the way campaign politics is handled today.  In honor of the Rally to Restore Sanity, Election Day, and me not forgetting my ideas, I'd like you to consider my proposed answer.

The campaign is meant to take the place of

Comments

[teaberryblue]

I think the part where what you are saying doesn't work in today's government is that because of out-of-state and corporate donors, so many representatives aren't representing what their actual voters want. We need referenda in today's political climate, whether or not I agree with some of the way voters vote on them, because representatives are voting to get more campaign dollars, not voting to reflect the interests of their constituents. In a perfect system, it's true. But a lot of legistation is not being sensibly passed, as you put it. It's being passed in the name of more campaign funding and not in the name of reflecting the views of their constituencies.

[novangla]

I don't think the answer to campaign funding and corporate donation is having ballot issues, though. It's having a better campaign funding system. In Maine, we have a Maine Clean Election fund. Almost ALL local/lower race candidates (town, county, and state legislature) use it. This year, the gubernatorial candidates are using it too. In Maine's system, candidates gather a certain number of five-dollar checks from registered voters. If you can get enough five-dollar donations, the state will fund your campaign up to a certain (really reasonable) amount, and anything you don't use you return in November. If your opponent opts for private/traditional funding, (a) it looks bad and (b) anything they spend over your budget is matched by the state fund

[teaberryblue]

I agree with you that the solution to campaign finance issues is campaign finance reform, but when the only people who have the ability to solve it are the ones benefiting from it, I think that's highly unlikely to happen anytime soon. Which is why voters do deserve an out, because until the system changes itself on the inside, we do need to be able to have the power to change it from the outside

[novangla]

I do think we should curb out-of-state donations. I just also dislike ballot initiatives.

My problem isn't that people aren't smart enough or elite enough to make those decisions. It's that decisions made in "punch a ballot" form worry me. Some people take their responsibilities seriously, and write letters to the local paper, and read other letters, and try to find out all the points of view on the issue, absolutely! But it still doesn't match the legitimacy of deliberative decision-making -- because there's also the regular campaign side of things. In some New England states, there are two special town meetings held leading up to an election that has a ballot initiative -- that makes me feel much better about it, but not every state even has town meetings.

[an_narctica]

I was just thinking about something similar. Originally the titles were flipped, and didn't become the parties we recognize today until the New Deal. The Democratic and Republican parties didn't represent a particular stance on various issues, they represented a stance on how issues should be handled. Post-Depression, Republicans favored smaller government on a national scale and less involvement in local politics, meaning that decisions were made on a state or town level and only the major economic issues were handled by the Legislative branch. Democrats favored bigger, more involved government, where the national government had control over social welfare, regulation of business, education, and other issues, as well as economics. So a Democrat president of the original values of the party wouldn't be pro- or anti-abortion or gay marriage, that president would either favored regulation of those issues on a state or national level.

Yet these days, one's religious and moral fervor are more important.