Forum Post: CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!! Let's keep our eyes on the prize folks!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 20, 2011, 10:49 p.m. EST by concernedinutah
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The main focus and demand of these protest must be CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!! A lot of the demands and reforms I see being posted only speak to the symptoms but don't address the root cause. We need to get the influence of big money out of politics and stop the current system of legalized bribery through donations and lobbyists if the American people ever want their elected representative to actually represent them again. Do you think a new candidate for president will solve the nations problems? Think again - under the current system they are often already bought and paid for by special interests before you even hear their name. The chance of having a real statesman who cares more about the country instead of his pocketbook is next to zero right now. We need structural change. This is THE cause that the majority of Americans would support (I'd say about 99% - the other 1% don't want it to change). If you want to get the 1% shaking in their boots demand real, loop-hole free, campaign finance reform!!!
If we have one demand it has to be Amend the Constitution for government ONLY financing of elections, no contributions, from anyone; rendering Citizens United a moot point.
I agree - the amount being spent on campaigns is absurd. They are marketing candidates to us like they are a new type of detergent but after we buy it we learn it is just the same old stuff that never really gets the clothes clean. I bet they could run all the campaigns using the same amount of money the government has already allocated and We The People would actually get a real look at the candidates instead of having be the person with the most money winning 95% of the time.
Its the only piece of this that resonates with the anti-establishment left, the anti-establishment right and everyone in between. Including many who make 350k+ believe its great to make that kind of money but that doesn't mean you want to spend it on some ones campaign where the mega-corps and uber-unions are going to drown it anyway. Oh, and its spin-proof. The logical contortions involved in trying to spin this would only push people to us.
I would go even further by saying we have to get big money out of our society. We need campaign finance reform and a 70% top marginal tax rate to keep people from earning billions then accusing the rest of us of not paying taxes or being productive. Most of these people are setting their own compensation and it's killing us!
I hear what your saying, but personally I don't have a problem with people making lots of money as long as they pay their fair share (unfortunately right now they don't because they have bribed the politicians to keep their taxes low and create thousands of tax loop-holes for themselves). What boils my blood is that our political system currently allows them to use their money to influence the laws in our country to make even more money - often at the expense of the American citizen (financially, socially, environmentally, etc.). They have effectively disenfranchised the American voter. I love it when I read posts claiming this movement is "socialist" - we have something worse than socialism currently. Right now we allow the corporations to privatize the profits and socialize the losses (these losses are not just financial, they include environmental costs and other externalities). We need real capitalism, where companies succeed because they are the best at providing what America needs, not because they are the best at bribing politicians.
I don't have a problem with people being reasonably wealthy, but when you have billions you can exert so much influence it's almost a God-like power. How many people would you trust with God-like powers?
Don't get me wrong - I agree with you in principle, but I'm not sold on the idea of a ceiling that automatically redistributes wealth. I would agree with a higher marginal rate, but 70% seems like an effective ceiling to me. They can have their money, they just should not be able to use it influence our political process. These are just my thoughts of course - I could be wrong.
It is also a matter of having a stable money supply. If you let people earn unlimited wealth all that money has to come from somewhere. Has the FED been expanding the money supply to feed the bottomless greed of the wealthy? That could be devastating! And I fear that's what has been going on. That may be the true nature of the banking crises.