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> pay for re-election campaigns In other words, the fact that the foundations of the political process depend heavily on money is what spoils the whole thing.
by Florin_Andrei 12y ago
> pay for re-election campaigns
In other words, the fact that the foundations of the political process depend heavily on money is what spoils the whole thing. Nothing will get fixed as long as that remains true.
Get money out of politics.
- slacka 12y ago> Get money out of politics. The only way to do that now is with a constitutional amendment. The Wolf PAC is working hard to get one passed and has actually succeeded in several states. http://www.wolf-pac.com/effects_of_corporate_lobbying_take_action_against_corporate_lobbying http://www.wolf-pac.com/effects_of_corporate_lobbying_take_a...
- lmm 12y agoThe "Wolf PAC"? Aren't they a subbranch of the New World Order?
- jmccree 12y agoSo to preserve democracy, we must sacrifice freedom of speech?
- oliyoung 12y agowe're (Australia) doing okay with the democracy thing, no explicit freedom of speech. Plus, it depends if you define speech as "giving money to someone"
- unabridged 12y agoEven if you ban/regulate giving money to candidates, are you willing to ban the ability of citizens to buy ad time and say something political? Who defines what "political" is? Would you ban: An ad that promotes preserving a specific forest while there is a referendum about increasing environmental spending. An ad that says the schools are falling apart and understaffed while an education millage is being voted on. An ad that says you shouldn't be forced to buy healthcare while a candidate/party's platform is strongly tied to that policy.
- Lewton 12y agoYes. Yes. A thousand times yes. http://www.kulturstyrelsen.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/dokumenter/medier/reklamer/political_advertising_tv/poladvertising.pdf http://www.kulturstyrelsen.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/dokument...
- Florin_Andrei 12y agoThe belief that money is 'speech' is a modern form of collective delusion - like the children's crusades back in the Dark Ages. Later generations will look at it and will go "how was that even possible?"
- yummyfajitas 12y agoYou have freedom of the press. You just can't spend money on ink or paper. If I didn't hear this so often in real life, I'd think it was a bad line in a cheesy dystopian movie.
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- deciplex 12y agoI actually don't have a problem with newspapers printing whatever the hell they want. However I do have a problem with it, when it's broadcast television or radio which is explicitly (and necessarily) a government-mandated monopoly, and to a lesser extent cable television which is in most cases an effective monopoly due to various stupid policies at the federal, state, and municipal levels of government. Assuming we eventually shitcan net-neutrality, I will have the same reservations there, as well. Basically, as long as there is no physical limit to the number of voices that can be heard (as with broadcast television), and the barriers to entry are reasonably low (unlike with cable television, and possibly internet in the near future), then absolute freedom of speech works very well. Otherwise, all you're left with is propaganda under cover of freedom of speech, and it fucking sucks.
- brazzy 12y ago> Get money out of politics. How exactly do you propose to achieve that, though? The problem is that political positions bestow power. People with money want that power, and I don't see how you can prevent them from using their money, directly or indirectly, to attain it.
- jbooth 12y agoYou can make it harder -- the trend recently is to make it easier.