Political spending for Presidential campaigns is like an arms war, forever escalating. He or she who raises the most money always wins.
I wish there was a better way. I wish that Congress and the powers that be would truly take reform in campaign funding seriously. In this last campaign, one could give a max of $60k to each party. And “bundlers” soon became my new best friend. In Virginia state campaigns for Governor, the amount you can give is “limitless”.
For candidates to raise $1 billion so quickly for a national campaign just invites political favor payback and issues that are not about best interest of the country but in the best interest of “show me the money”. There has got to be a better way.
Yet Change has come !!!..some dimes, nickels..etc….we need a ” lockout”..then a salary cap
Funny isn’t how we didn’t get this kind of take on the Obamessiah’s fundraising and spending during the general election period? It was all, “Look at the groundswell of support and grassroots and blah, blah, blah.”
Sad part is, the REAL scandal of the Obamessiah’s fundraising hasn’t even been scratched yet, and probably never will be.
Of course, the figures don’t take into account the “in kind contributions” offered by our “Unbiased” Media.
But hey, once we do away with the First Amendment and further regulate how people choose to spend their money in a campaign, we won’t have to worry about it all because the internet will keep free speech alive, fairness doctrine or no fairness doctrine. It isn’t as if there are people out there (Congress, FEC) looking to regulate political speech on the http://WWW...
It has always amazed me that candidates will spend hundreds of millions of dollars…. trying to get a job that pays a couple hundred thousand a year.
One part of the solution: shorten the election period. There is no need for the kind of state filing deadlines that exist in states like Illinois (December before the election!) which have been on the books since horse-and-buggy days. Less campaign time should mean lesser quantities of expensive telly time that have to be bought. Britain and Canada somehow do well with campaigns lasting just a few weeks – why not the USA?
And thusly is the reason I have yet to support any candidate… because its now about me… its about the people that financed the candidate