Hmm. I wonder what this money just said?
Unless you live under a rock, you know our elections are awash in dark money. Long before the SCOTUS assured us that "money is speech" in the Citizens United decision, political influence in the good old US of A was a multi-billion dollar industry, right down to the local level. Even the candidate for the village dogcatcher can get in on the action if the right promises are broken!
One near my home who has figured it out is Senator Krysten "Cinema" Sinema (D-leaning-R - AZ). She discovered that it's much easier to get a few $10,000 contributions rubbing elbows with corporate types at a toney wine tasting in an up-scale, suburban enclave than it is to get 1,000 contributions of $10 at a homeless activist’s meeting at the rescue mission. No worries about muggings, you get many fetching photo-ops, and you get a free buzz! Win, win, and win! You will be tired of all the winning!
I wonder if this is all we can expect. Is what George Bernard Shaw said about democracy true, that it is “a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve"? Many first-term politicians may truly believe that they ran for office to serve their constituents and not their contributors.
However, anyone who experienced a Student Council election in high school knows that politicians who are truly in it for public service are rare. In my high school, the varsity quarterback/varsity point guard/Student Council president did it for the attention! All the wanna-be cool kids voted for him. He beat the tree-hugging, do-gooder nerd in a landslide!
Well, maybe he did it to get the head cheerleader. As it turns out, I guess he wasn't all that in the end, what with the beatings and all. I guess that for every Elizabeth Warren there is a Lauren Boebert or a Marjorie Taylor Greene, for every Raphael Warnock, a Madison Cawthorn or a Matt Gaetz, and for every John McCain, a Caribou Barbie. He really did deserve better than Caribou Barbie.
All this wondering got the juices flowing. How we can elect leaders without exposing them to the risk of succumbing to the siren song of the moneyed few? Can we arrange our political system so that our U.S. Senators are not constantly selling (or benefitting from!) their influence, our U.S. Representatives are not constantly begging for money, and our state and local leaders are truly serving their constituents and not their contributors? Is it even possible? Am I nuts!
The result is my Election Finance Manifesto (is there a minimum word requirement for a manifesto?) on how to "Get the Money out of Politics", or as some may call it, "Election Finance in Heaven." Naive of me, right? Remember, this is how we would do it in heaven, not that I'm likely to make it there. Checkered past. I'm steeled for the ridicule. Here goes.
- Only real people can contribute personal income or personal wealth to a political campaign
Personal income is the money received by an individual in wages, tips, salaries, earnings, benefits, inheritance, and winnings. Personal wealth, for accounting purposes, was personal income at some point. Only personal income or personal wealth from a real person, subject to a per-election, individual contribution cap, contributed directly to a candidate's registered campaign committee, is an acceptable political campaign contribution, with mandatory reporting of all contributions. You cannot contribute someone else's personal income or personal wealth, regardless of your position, and regardless of how you acquired the money. Grandma needs to write her own check! No more $10K-a-plate dinners, no more "wine tastings", no more raffles, no more shenanigans! You cannot rent your 10,000 square foot Beverly Hills mansion for $1 as a campaign headquarters! You can personally contribute personal income or personal wealth up to the individual limit, full stop.
- Real people can only contribute to real candidates who can receive their vote
A living, breathing human being can contribute personal income or personal wealth to the registered political campaign organization of a declared candidate for political office only if that living, breathing contributor can cast a vote for that candidate. If a contributor can cast a vote for that candidate, put some skin in the game. If a contributor cannot cast a vote for that candidate, the money only muddies the waters and is not welcome. You are welcome to contribute your time, but only your time. Make phone calls, write letters, send texts, knock on doors, whatever. Any other tangible contribution is forbidden. Paying others to do it for you is also forbidden! Since corporations and their associations are not voters, they cannot make political contributions.
- Only registered campaign organizations of candidates may purchase political advertising
Only the registered political campaign organization of a declared candidate in an election for political office can purchase political advertising read, heard, or seen in the markets affected by that election. No more PAC ads, no more "Citizens for" groups, no more special interests, no more "I approve this message" baloney. The purchase of an advertisement that advocates for an issue is OK, but it may not mention or depict any specific candidate or party. The only political ads allowed are those purchased by the registered political campaign organization of a declared candidate in an election for political office.
- Direct political advertising can only depict candidates running in the specific election
A political advertisement purchased by the registered political campaign organization of a declared candidate in an election for political office can only depict that candidate and the other candidates in the same specific election. Depiction or mention of anyone other than candidates in the same specific election is off-limits. No more coattails, no more bogeymen, no more fictional scenes of scary immigrants coming for your women and children, no mention of any current or former politician or divisive person is allowed. Get negative emotional appeals and fear out of political advertising.
I know it's not much of a manifesto, more like a screed or a rant. There are plenty of holes in it, and plenty of reasons to throw rocks at it. It stands a snowball's chance in you-know-where of ever seeing the light of day. An entire industry is out there waiting to shoot it down.
However, it felt good getting it down on secondary computer storage. I think a TV advertisement I watched recently by an Arizona Trumpublican candidate who had the temerity to stare straight into the camera and forcefully say, "Let’s ... Go ... Brandon" triggered me. Dog whistle my butt, more like a dog klaxon!
It made me long for the days when political campaigns had catchy little songs and cartoon donkeys and elephants. Those were the days my friend.
OK. Enough. End rant. Tear it up.
