time for public financing of political campaigns?

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cubeless

Diamond Member
Sep 17, 2001
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so for $100k i could have him come to my house for a visit? makes me long for the lincoln bedroom days... is his mother in law in there so they can't rent it out?

it's buried in here...

"It's going to get harder," the president told about 200 people who paid $500 each to greet him at a reception. "Now's the time when all the special interests are saying, 'Oh, this is really going to happen, we might lose some of our profits.' And they start paying big lobbyists, and they start twisting arms."

the taxpayers spent more than this on the flight for him to drop by there... he should have at least dropped by some clinics that are defrauding medicare and asked them to be more civic minded while he was down there...
 

cubeless

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Sep 17, 2001
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more the mechanism than the action... i guess it's good that he's bringing access down to the affordability level of the masses... even if it's only a handshake...
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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Public Financing is a method to remove Corruption from the system. Not the only way, but if one is interested in reducing undue influence from the system, they shouldn't remove the idea from the table. I think other things should be tried first though. Limit contributions to a small amount and to Individual People(not Corps/Orgs) is a good start. Also make Dinners, Trips, and other such things Illegal with the consequence of Jail for those receiving such things. The Voter is the only voice that Individual Politicians should be hearing. Corps/Orgs can be heard at Open Committees, where both the Politicians and Voters can hear their concerns/needs and decide upon whether those concerns/needs merit action of some sort.
 

cubeless

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Sep 17, 2001
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Originally posted by: sandorski
Public Financing is a method to remove Corruption from the system. Not the only way, but if one is interested in reducing undue influence from the system, they shouldn't remove the idea from the table. I think other things should be tried first though. Limit contributions to a small amount and to Individual People(not Corps/Orgs) is a good start. Also make Dinners, Trips, and other such things Illegal with the consequence of Jail for those receiving such things. The Voter is the only voice that Individual Politicians should be hearing. Corps/Orgs can be heard at Open Committees, where both the Politicians and Voters can hear their concerns/needs and decide upon whether those concerns/needs merit action of some sort.

all reasonable sounding, but what about employed politicians? how much time/resource should current officeholders be allowed to expend? if i want to search for a new job i don't get to do it during work hours... and they aren't employed by their political party, they're employed by the taxpayers...

just musing, but what about something like bo campaigning in a state that he lost in the election for a candidate who is behind in the polls (doesn't have a majority support)... not exactly representing the populace... i know: he won - shut up... it just seems like a slippery slope, and it's not like politicians aren't known for going overboard when presented with an opportunity...

and what about under the table/radar stuff like franked mail, etc...
 

glenn1

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
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Originally posted by: cubeless
time for public financing of political campaigns?

Outlaw political advertising on TV. It's what the politicians want all that money for. Anyone who would be influenced by political ads shouldn't be voting anyway, it's the equivalent of buying something from a spam email.
 

bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
13,312
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Originally posted by: sandorski
Public Financing is a method to remove Corruption from the system. Not the only way, but if one is interested in reducing undue influence from the system, they shouldn't remove the idea from the table. I think other things should be tried first though. Limit contributions to a small amount and to Individual People(not Corps/Orgs) is a good start. Also make Dinners, Trips, and other such things Illegal with the consequence of Jail for those receiving such things. The Voter is the only voice that Individual Politicians should be hearing. Corps/Orgs can be heard at Open Committees, where both the Politicians and Voters can hear their concerns/needs and decide upon whether those concerns/needs merit action of some sort.

I agree.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
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Originally posted by: glenn1
Originally posted by: cubeless
time for public financing of political campaigns?

Outlaw political advertising on TV. It's what the politicians want all that money for. Anyone who would be influenced by political ads shouldn't be voting anyway, it's the equivalent of buying something from a spam email.

this
 

bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
13,312
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Originally posted by: miketheidiot
Originally posted by: glenn1
Originally posted by: cubeless
time for public financing of political campaigns?

Outlaw political advertising on TV. It's what the politicians want all that money for. Anyone who would be influenced by political ads shouldn't be voting anyway, it's the equivalent of buying something from a spam email.

this

Again I agree.
 

cubeless

Diamond Member
Sep 17, 2001
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so how do we reconcile their first amendment rights with the way that having to buy tv time pollutes the process?

make fox give up airtime so that someone will watch the candidates debate?
 
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