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Such as? I'd say that's the bare minimum starting point for something that deserves the name democracy. That doesn't mean it's a panacea.

by emn13 11y ago

johnchristopher 11y ago
On the top of my head: - Some parties/candidates spend more than they are allowed and try to hide the difference and that can only be done illegally (See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10858124/Marine-Le-Pen-wins-record-victory-in-French-elections.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1085...). - Also there can be some voting(?) threshold you have to reach to be eligible for the reimbursement of campaign costs (5% for the french presidential I believe) so small parties are gambling a lot by throwing themselves into the pit with other well established big parties and sometimes they simply decide to make a coalition in order to have the guarantee to survive financially. But then they are forced to reframe their political agenda and this usually weakens the ideological stances of everyone. - I think you have to submit every spending and justify the origin of the money private donors give you. Except when they can't because that money was obtained in shady places (See the Gaddafi-Sarkozy affair http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22220272 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22220272 or the Sarkozy-Bettencourt affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettencourt_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettencourt_affair). Of course I am not blaming the system. But at the moment the implementation lacks several error catching checks to make sure the whole thing runs as intended (eg: the official/national organ that is supposed to investigate these campaigns and make sure everything stays legal is largely under funded). I gave some notorious examples from right parties but it doesn't mean the left doesn't dabble into those waters (in France and in Belgium).
- davidivadavid 11y ago
  That still leaves a little bit of an issue: taxpayers financing campaigns for parties they will never vote for. As a French citizen, I can't figure out a good reason why I have to give a cent to some nutjobs just because they woke up one morning and decided they were fit to rule the country (Jacques Cheminade, far left/right leaders, etc.).

Such as? I'd say that's the bare minimum starting point for something that deserves the name democracy. That doesn't mean it's a panacea.

by emn13 11y ago

Such as? I'd say that's the bare minimum starting point for something that deserves the name democracy. That doesn't mean it's a panacea.

johnchristopher 11y ago

On the top of my head: - Some parties/candidates spend more than they are allowed and try to hide the difference and that can only be done illegally (See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10858124/Marine-Le-Pen-wins-record-victory-in-French-elections.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1085...). - Also there can be some voting(?) threshold you have to reach to be eligible for the reimbursement of campaign costs (5% for the french presidential I believe) so small parties are gambling a lot by throwing themselves into the pit with other well established big parties and sometimes they simply decide to make a coalition in order to have the guarantee to survive financially. But then they are forced to reframe their political agenda and this usually weakens the ideological stances of everyone. - I think you have to submit every spending and justify the origin of the money private donors give you. Except when they can't because that money was obtained in shady places (See the Gaddafi-Sarkozy affair http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22220272 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22220272 or the Sarkozy-Bettencourt affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettencourt_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettencourt_affair). Of course I am not blaming the system. But at the moment the implementation lacks several error catching checks to make sure the whole thing runs as intended (eg: the official/national organ that is supposed to investigate these campaigns and make sure everything stays legal is largely under funded). I gave some notorious examples from right parties but it doesn't mean the left doesn't dabble into those waters (in France and in Belgium).

davidivadavid 11y ago
That still leaves a little bit of an issue: taxpayers financing campaigns for parties they will never vote for. As a French citizen, I can't figure out a good reason why I have to give a cent to some nutjobs just because they woke up one morning and decided they were fit to rule the country (Jacques Cheminade, far left/right leaders, etc.).