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Personally, I think we need to make it so that only registered voters can give money to candidates, with a maximum amount set per contributor. That would automa

Personally, I think we need to make it so that only registered voters can give money to candidates, with a maximum amount set per contributor. That would automatically disallow all direct contributions from corporations and prevent the rich from having more influence than the poor. (Of course, something like this would probably have to be a constitutional amendment, and I doubt that would ever happen.)

TheSOB88 15y ago
There's always a workaround - spending lots of money spread over different people's names, for instance. Of course, you'd have to buy the mules first, and that affects the efficiency, but cheating would still occur. But anyways, yeah, the hard part would be actually putting this into place. I mean, nobody in power would want this to happen. It would be bad for the lobbyists and bad for the congressmen. No incentive there, and much incentive to fight against it.
- jedbrown 15y ago
  Lessig's suggestion would significantly increase the amount of money available to politicians relative to now. The difference is that it would all come in small dollar amounts to make politicians accountable to constituents instead of the corporations currently financing them. More money might conceivably be sufficient incentive for those in power to act.
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  Yeah, you'd have to watch out for abuses. But the main point is to change the incentive for them to beg corporations for money. Making it illegal, and making it easier for normal individuals to donate would help switch that incentive from going to corporations to going to individuals.
nextparadigms 15y ago
I think that's a good idea. Limit campaign donations only to individuals and at a $1000 cap. No single individual, and especially corporations, should be able to dramatically influence the results by leveraging his wealth. Just like votes are equal, donations from everyone should be more or less equal, too. It would also remove the incentive for politicians to go and beg for the corporations' money. Basically, campaign donations should be more like Kickstarter. If enough people like your idea and support you with money, then you will have enough momentum and money anyway.
mahyarm 15y ago
There are already a limit, it's $2500 per politician, $30.8k per party committee and then unlimited if you got a lot of friends/employees. Here is a cynical primer outlining how lobbying works: http://www.2abd.com/politics/protesting/protesting-versus-lobbying-a-primer/ http://www.2abd.com/politics/protesting/protesting-versus-lo...

TheSOB88 15y ago

There's always a workaround - spending lots of money spread over different people's names, for instance. Of course, you'd have to buy the mules first, and that affects the efficiency, but cheating would still occur. But anyways, yeah, the hard part would be actually putting this into place. I mean, nobody in power would want this to happen. It would be bad for the lobbyists and bad for the congressmen. No incentive there, and much incentive to fight against it.

jedbrown 15y ago
Lessig's suggestion would significantly increase the amount of money available to politicians relative to now. The difference is that it would all come in small dollar amounts to make politicians accountable to constituents instead of the corporations currently financing them. More money might conceivably be sufficient incentive for those in power to act.
nextparadigms 15y ago
Yeah, you'd have to watch out for abuses. But the main point is to change the incentive for them to beg corporations for money. Making it illegal, and making it easier for normal individuals to donate would help switch that incentive from going to corporations to going to individuals.

nextparadigms 15y ago

I think that's a good idea. Limit campaign donations only to individuals and at a $1000 cap. No single individual, and especially corporations, should be able to dramatically influence the results by leveraging his wealth. Just like votes are equal, donations from everyone should be more or less equal, too. It would also remove the incentive for politicians to go and beg for the corporations' money. Basically, campaign donations should be more like Kickstarter. If enough people like your idea and support you with money, then you will have enough momentum and money anyway.

mahyarm 15y ago

There are already a limit, it's $2500 per politician, $30.8k per party committee and then unlimited if you got a lot of friends/employees. Here is a cynical primer outlining how lobbying works: http://www.2abd.com/politics/protesting/protesting-versus-lobbying-a-primer/ http://www.2abd.com/politics/protesting/protesting-versus-lo...