The Problem with Campaign Finance

The Problem with Campaign Finance

Voters have been disillusioned with political campaigns for decades. Routinely, only half the eligible voters even bother to vote. Political campaigns are now so expensive, voters ignore candidates’ solicitations for donations. The thinking here is that the $25 the voter would send is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions the candidates receive from special interest groups, unions, PACs, Parties and corporations. There is another shift in voters’ feelings about this dilemma; it’s a shift in trust.

Over the past few decades, voters recognized that the political party organizations in the states and nationally generally hand-pick finalists from the field of candidates. This is no different from the way the candidate finalists are selected in Iran, Venezuela or Russia. What is different is that voters’ reactions to the lists if finalists are no different than voter reaction to candidates in these countries. Voters’ cynicism is reinforced when elected officials block actions voters consider routinely necessary like closing the Mexican border, drilling for domestic oil and gas, or allowing citizens to determine whether or not to buy health insurance. Worse, voters see the relationship between big business, unions, ideologues and special interest groups like Environmentalists as they object to bank, insurance and auto bailouts, cap & trade based on the climate change hoax.

Voters in the past were more trusting of politicians’ abilities to refuse to vote for bills that damage the economy or their personal liberty, but the onslaught special interest bills began in the 1960s continue to accelerate. Voters have had enough. Voters firmly believe their Federal Government is wasteful and deceitful. Voters believe politicians won’t stay within their budget because “special interests” won’t let them. The end result is a $20 trillion projected National Debt and an $80 trillion addition to that Debt for unfunded liabilities like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Voters believe the total $100 trillion Debt cannot be paid for and our entire economy will crash under the weight of the Debt.

In 1770, a Scottish lawyer and writer named Alexander Fraser Tytler wrote:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to lose fiscal policy..."