Everyone has their opinion about campaign finance reform.
Many want to publicly fund it, while others wish to deregulate it altogether. There are also many people who favor a "compromise" position on the issue.
I think if you look at what campaign financing does to our government, you will agree it is the biggest problem our citizens face as we try to take our government back.
Of course, I have a position of my own, that I don't think fits any of the categories above.
Why don't we make all paid advertising by any candidate running for office illegal?
We could limit advertising to the candidates "official" website, and and they could post the code for anyone to embed into their website or play on the television, as long as the people did not accept money to post them. If the Coweta County VFW wanted to get Dr. George Phillies to give a speech, they could fly him in, and pay for the flight, rental car or cab (or a limo for that matter), a hotel (I wouldn't want to put limits on how nice they were either), and the ticket home. Nothing else. No fund raisers would be needed or allowed.
Same thing for "soft money" ads, or "issue ads." You know the ones that don't tell you how great someone is, but how bad the other guy is. These PACs distort the issues, and generally do a dis-service to people trying to educate themselves on the issues.
Do you think this violates our 1st amendment right to free speech? I don't necessarily think that it does (if I thought it did, I wouldn't be proposing it to you.) Its not censorship. We disallowed cigarette ads and others before. Allowing people with the money to pay for votes infringes on other candidates' first amendment right to free speech..
In Abraham Lincoln's time, it was thought to be rude to campaign for political office. Now its a requirement. Of course, Fred Thompson seems to be doing a pretty good job of not campaigning for President right now.
If we didn't allow political ads, maybe candidates would have to get their message out the old-fashioned way. By earning it.
I'm not saying we shouldn't allow candidates to do interviews in the newspaper and on television and radio. I just don't think they should pay to do it. Is John McCain's message really that better than Tom Tancredo? Its hard to tell, we don't get to hear his message much. Same could be said for Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, and all of the candidates running for President in a 3rd party, or independently.
Grass-roots movements are the only movements that truly work. This would force anyone seeking political office to start at the grass-roots level.
Well, here's the part where you call me Communist. I promise, this to me, is all about fair competition, you know: whoever offers the best product wins. These expensive ads place "unofficial" regulations on anyone trying to run for political office.
The best way to solve this problem, is by eliminating it altogether.
