Campaign Finance Reform

The news lately has been filled with how much the candidates have been raising for their 2008 Presidential campaigns. Holy crap! We are 20 months away from election day and we are already giving the campaign full-time coverage. This undoubtedly has a lot to do with the massive dissatisfaction with the current administration and the lame-duckiness of Dubya's reign of terror leaving the field wide open. But this is also terribly damaging to the process. When the founding fathers drafted the Constitution, they never could have imagined this malay.

This is clear indicator that something is seriously wrong. Okay, maybe the most recent indicator. (I had a momentary lapse and forgot that Al Gore was actually elected by the people in 2000 but the system was either manipulated to put the current resident in office or so out-dated and/or broken that the will of the people is no longer served by an election in this country). Why are we so focused on how much they have raised rather than the issues? Because in today's America, the will of the people doesn't matter any longer. Yes, we have a representative government rather than a true democracy. It was set up that way. The problem is that the people were supposed to be represented, not powerful companies and special interests.

An excellent example of it is the voucher bill that passed in Utah. No one wanted it. It failed on several occasions. But no matter how much people don't want it, the legislature crams it down their throat until the public relents. And to make sure that the people still have no say, the legislature creates a secondary bill that falls under the legislatures rules of not being eligible for a public referrendum! Basically, the out-of-state special interest wins and Utahns will have no say of how their tax money is spent. I'm amazed that Howard Stevenson's head hasn't exploded. But that's because his Utah Taxpayers Association supported the diversion of your tax dollars that the majority of Utahs don't support. How can you lobby for responsible taxation AND argue for vouchers? This is an excellent example of what's wrong with this state. One side of the mouth says we love our families and support children, while the other side spends your hard earned tax dollars on special interests. The Mormons in this state should be furious. Now their hard earned tax money is being diverted to religious schools that don't subscribe to their religious beliefs! Think about that. The reason Howard Stevenson's head hasn't exploded is because the culture here encourages saying one thing and doing (unto) another.

But I digress. How do we return elections back to the people in this country? We take away the fund raising. Simple as that. Candidates all draw an equal amount out of a federal election trust and that's all they get. If you like a candidate, you can contribute to the trust. No more un-American third-party campaigning like the Swift Boat idiots. Only the candidates can campaign. If you don't like that, jump in and become a candidate yourself. Put your ass on the line for your beliefs. Try and get us to elect you on your ideas and character instead of attacking that of others. This eliminates elitest candidates, like they all are now, and allows regular, patriotic, real Americans on the ballot. No more groomed candidates, just people... real Americans. And they all get the same amount of money to spend to get elected. While we're at it, let's eliminate the Electoral College. It may have worked 200 years ago, but the world is smaller and has rendered it useless and a risk to representative government. Let's give every person in this country the same vote. Let's elect a president by popular vote. (Any argument otherwise is a sign you don't want the people's vote to count). Wow, then we'd have a real representative government!