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Originally Posted by DirtFarmer
I'd like to be able to do this, but again, I don't think we can. The money is going to find its way to the politicians. ...
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Sure we can. Just stop voting for the lesser of
two weevils and start voting for people who don't accept tainted money. It'll take a little work to find them, because they (almost by definition) won't have nearly the advertising budget.
Then call the media out every time they pretend money=support. There is an awful lot of, um,
bovine biosolids about public participation in elections through campaign contributions, and I doubt it's accidental. Last year, we heard even more b.bs. about "small contributors". The fact is, fewer than 1% of voters ever contribute
anything to election campaigns. I don't think a sample of 1% of the voters ought to be used to decide who's viable and who's not, and limit the voters' choices months before the actual election. It is true that Obama persuaded an unprecedented number of people to contribute to his campaign but numerous as they were, they still represent fewer than 1% of the electorate and contributed a minority of his campaign
dollars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DirtFarmer
On the other hand, if we limited the power and influence of the government, there would be less incentive for the money to come looking.
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Power abhors a vacuum. If we limit the power & influence of government, somebody else will wield influence. Your own Texas state Ledge is the poster child for limited government with part-time legislators and a weak governor; do you want to tell me there's substantially less corrupting campaign-contribution influence there than in other state legislatures?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DirtFarmer
If the state and federal governments did not have the ability to pass mandates on insurance, the insurance companies (and others) would have no reason to try to buy off the politicians.
Tell me how this would not work.
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Congress has the power to regulate commerce. (Article 1, Section 8, US Constitution)
Even if that were not spelled out in the Constitution, Congress (and the state legislatures) still inherently has the power to enact laws. The only way to take the power to enact laws away from the legislative branch is to disband the legislative branch.
