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How would public financing solve anything? If we gave each candidate a billion dollars it seems like there would still be an incentive to raise even more money
by nimblegorilla 15y ago
How would public financing solve anything? If we gave each candidate a billion dollars it seems like there would still be an incentive to raise even more money from rich corporations.
- rgarcia 15y agoBy definition public financing precludes corporate financing.
- nimblegorilla 15y agoThanks for an incorrect non-answer. The definition of public financing does not by itself preclude corporate financing. Even if you adopted additional restrictions on corporate financing I'm pretty sure there would be all kinds of ways to shadow-fund a candidate. This creates a situation where honest candidates are unfairly penalized against candidates that still play the money game.
- rgarcia 15y agoI guess I meant the de facto definition. Literally every attempt at a public financing bill/amendment I've seen in Congress has the express purpose of precluding direct corporate financing[1]. Also, I was not arguing whether or not any of these proposals can be 100% effective (like you clearly deny). This is a straw man, but it is definitely worth debate on a case-by-case basis. [1] most recent (and probably most ambitious) example: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hjres100/report https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hjres100/report. An intriguing proposal from L. Lessig: http://www.plainsite.org/issues/index.html?id=29 http://www.plainsite.org/issues/index.html?id=29