Campaign Finance Reform Can Save the World (of Politics)

As politicians look to large corporations and political lobbies as the primary source of income to fund their campaigns, the average American has become more and more isolated from participation in our political system. The election system that is currently in place ostracizes most Americans from having their wants, needs, or ideas considered a viable concern to most career politicians. The United States needs to reel in and reform its election system to make it more balanced for everyone. In doing so, the quality of people who would be taking office would change as well as the political discourse in Washington.

The American political process seems filled with power-mongers who take office in service of the objectives of the highest bidder. As it stands today, unless you can afford to buy the seat in office you are running for, the average American will never have the opportunity to represent thier economic class in our country’s national legislative body. Aside from making the political process open to people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to run for office, reforming presidential and congressional elections will change the priorities of politicians in Washington instead of allowing large corporations and lobbies to dictate them. The United States legislature should enact an Amendment to our constitution that:

Levies a national tax to publicly fund presidential and congressional elections and mandate free airtime for debates on national television; Restricts the duration of presidential and congressional campaigns; Makes it a federal crime to “influence” candidates and elected officials with campaign donations; and Establishes term limits for members of Congress.

Eliminating the need to fundraise for election campaigns will leave more time for politicians to work on serving their constituency. Giving candidates a set time they can start campaigning, and restricting the duration of those campaigns, levels the playing field for everyone and will cut down on campaign costs considerably. Making it a federal crime to influence a candidate or elected official through “generous” donations will go a long way towards eliminating monetary influence of politicians. Finally, with regard to Congress, why not also establish term limits for its members? Congress is supposed to be representative of the people. The United States should require that new candidates be elected so that new laws are representative of the viewpoints of the people at that point in time. Look at Strom Thurmond if you need an example of someone whose viewpoints (namely those regarding racial segregation) did not change as those of the country did.

In a political climate of a country where most of its population is victim to political consequences outside the realm of their control, giving them some semblance of an assurance that those that represent them are working on their behalf is the least the United States government can do for a very weary populace. And who knows? Perhaps the millions of dollars corporations cannot funnel into presidential and congressional campaigns can go towards some much needed job creation.


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