No matter our political ideology, most of us can agree that the American political system is broken. The influence of private money on politics has effectively transformed the United States into an oligarchy. Do you know how much money was spent on the midterm that just passed? Over $6 billion. On a MIDTERM! It's obscene. And yet we have become so inured to it over the years that most of us don't even notice it. $6 billion. Where do you think that money came from? And what do they demand in return?
The only way to fix the problem is to get private money out of politics forever. Elections should not be about who can raise the most money, they should be about who has the best ideas. This country was founded on ideas, among them the then-novel notion that all men are created equal (sorry, ladies). We seem to have forgotten that along the way. Ideas have been pushed aside, muscled off the podium by money. It was once said that in America, money talks. Now it rules. The unbridled rule of the wealthy is inherently antithetical to the principles upon which this country was founded. Democracy cannot exist side by side with unbridled capitalism and unlimited wealth. That is a recipe for handing control to a smaller and smaller group of elites at the top. Say around one percent. Well, you get the idea.
I propose that we ban all private money from politics, and instead institute a system of publically-funded elections. If you could collect 1000 signatures, you could qualify for some small level of public funding, say $2500. If you could then gather 10,000 signatures you would qualify for more funding, say $10,000, and so on up the line to designated maximums for each office, based on population and local media market prices ($1 million could saturate the airwaves in some districts, for example, while it would hardly buy one TV advertisement in others). Each level would be more and more difficult to reach, weeding out the cranks and others unable to garner sufficient support. But everyone would have a voice and every idea could get a fair public hearing. Fail to make your case and you might not move on to the next level. But at least you got the chance to try.
Such a system would not be cheap. But it would effectively break the stranglehold of the Big Two political parties. And it would shatter the grip of private money on the political process. No more donations. No more junkets. No more free homes and cars and the million other perks elected officials receive from wealthy private interests. Lobbying would still be allowed, of course, but lobbyists would be forced to make their case based on the strength of their ideas and how many people they can get to agree with them. How many VOTES they can deliver, in other words, not how many dollars. You know, democracy.
Conservatives, consider: Your knee-jerk reaction to this is likely going to be to reject the idea out of hand. I know you guys don't like spending money. But if you truly believe in the strength of your conservative ideals then you should not be afraid to let them compete on an even footing with other ideologies. May the best ideas win. A genuine ideological conservative should not be afraid of such a challenge. But the Big Money guys hate the very idea of it. After all, it's a lot easier to buy elections than it is to win them. No one ever said you had to be smart to be rich.