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Honestly, unfortunately: same. Nearly every time I've donated to something political, it's come to bite me in the ass. Donate to a candidate? They sell/give my

Honestly, unfortunately: same. Nearly every time I've donated to something political, it's come to bite me in the ass. Donate to a candidate? They sell/give my info to related PACs and groups (and there's no stopping it, because it's considered political speech to solicit for donations). Last time I gave money to one of the fundraisers with vests that hang around downtown, my credit card got charged at an eastern European online retailer. I feel the only real way to avoid this is to donate through an anonymous vehicle, but I believe anonymous political donation vehicles and everything that came with the Citizens United decision to be at the core of the rot in our system.

ALittleLight 7y ago
I wonder if there is a service that could handle the donation and subsequent trashing of incoming correspondence for you. Although, I also wonder about giving money to annoying people.
vkou 7y ago
The core of the rot is not anonymous donations. At the end of the day, nobody actually cares that Candidate X is receiving money from Puppykillers Inc. The problem is that Candidate X owes her success to donated money. She is now beholden to her donors, not her constituents. Democracy, for sale by the dollar isn't democracy, it's a slide into oligarchy. The only solution to this problem is public-only funding of campaigns.
- deleted 7y ago
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- 7952 7y ago
  At that point you have just placed a limit on spending which is what some other countries do anyway. Personally I think we should move towards banning the use of any paid for media in politics. If candidates want to reach voters they should do it in person or using social media. And voters should be able to ignore some candidates and listen to others based on who they follow. And candidates should need to succeed without the normal public sphere rather than the weaponised media landscape.
- thephyber 7y ago
  > The only solution to this problem is public-only funding of campaigns. I fail to see how that addresses any of the issues we have "earned media" from the cable "news" propaganda (I'm not using that word lightly here) networks or the "Citizen's United" style documentary production which would not likely be curtailed by the change you propose. All you do is shift the money from being thrown at the 16 minutes per hour of advertisement blocks to the 44 minutes per hour where we don't notice we are being advertised to.

ALittleLight 7y ago

I wonder if there is a service that could handle the donation and subsequent trashing of incoming correspondence for you. Although, I also wonder about giving money to annoying people.

vkou 7y ago

The core of the rot is not anonymous donations. At the end of the day, nobody actually cares that Candidate X is receiving money from Puppykillers Inc. The problem is that Candidate X owes her success to donated money. She is now beholden to her donors, not her constituents. Democracy, for sale by the dollar isn't democracy, it's a slide into oligarchy. The only solution to this problem is public-only funding of campaigns.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
7952 7y ago
At that point you have just placed a limit on spending which is what some other countries do anyway. Personally I think we should move towards banning the use of any paid for media in politics. If candidates want to reach voters they should do it in person or using social media. And voters should be able to ignore some candidates and listen to others based on who they follow. And candidates should need to succeed without the normal public sphere rather than the weaponised media landscape.
thephyber 7y ago
> The only solution to this problem is public-only funding of campaigns. I fail to see how that addresses any of the issues we have "earned media" from the cable "news" propaganda (I'm not using that word lightly here) networks or the "Citizen's United" style documentary production which would not likely be curtailed by the change you propose. All you do is shift the money from being thrown at the 16 minutes per hour of advertisement blocks to the 44 minutes per hour where we don't notice we are being advertised to.