I recently came across an interesting idea, that apparently started as a thought experiment by Warren Buffet. He was interested in getting money out of politics, and making sure that only citizens were allowed to give money to politicians -- no lobbyists, no corporations, no unions.
Of course, any kind of campaign finance law with any teeth would be dead on arrival... some politicians would vote for it to give the appearance of wanting to level the field, but after a few rounds of amendments it would be so watered down with exceptions it would be useless.
So, how could he affect change? Simple... place a large enough bet! Here's how it would work:
- Have an eccentric Billionaire place one billion dollars in several dozen escrow accounts.
- Have some legal experts draft a truly exceptional campaign finance law stating (amongst other things) that only individuals can make political donations, up to a maximum of $5,000 a year.
- Send the bill to friendly face in Washington who would be willing to introduce it... maybe Grayson or Franken?
- If the bill FAILS TO PASS, then the billion dollars will be donated to the political party that cast the MOST votes for it. In the event of a tie, the money goes to the minority party, currently the Republicans
At first glance this sounds nuts... but several Game Theory experts are convinced it could work.
Once those rules are set up, what will happen? Well, a billion dollars is a lot of money, and neither party would want the other to have such a financial advantage, so they would constantly try to out vote each other to get the billion dollars... which means it would pass!
And here's the kicker... once it passes, it would be illegal to donate the billion dollars. So Buffet, Soros, or whoever would only be able to give $5,000... So it's a billion dollar wager, and he only has to pay $5,000!
Of course, the devil is in the details... first, you need to draft a law with serious teeth, maybe even fully public financing, and strong laws against ex-politicians working as lobbyists. Then you need to make sure you have an iron-clad contract that can deal with exotic parliamentary maneuvers, and situations like where it passes the House but not the Senate. Finally, you'd need to stipulate that amendments which "water down" the bill in any way count as the bill not passing... Basically, you'd need to test drive this idea a few times with legal experts before unleashing it on the public.
Most important: the contract must NOT have an escape clause. If it's possible to weasel out of the wager, then every one will press to trigger that escape clause. The only way out for sleazy politicians is to generate lots of votes from your party, and hope you win the cash...