Series, Part 2: Taking Back Our Government (Part 1)

Okay folks, remember those "insurmountable tasks" I referred to in my introduction to this series? Here's the first, most insurmountable, and yet most absolutely critical task we need to undertake in order to take our country back from those who have usurped it:

1. Abolish ALL private funding of political campaigns, replacing it with limited PUBLIC funding.

Just absorb that for one moment. Read it again, if you need to do so.

I would submit to you that the number one reason we no longer have a government "by the people" is that our politicians are willing to sell their souls to whatever devil has the money in hand to finance their election and re-election campaigns. Neither I nor 90% of the people living in this country have the financial capability to influence a politician's thinking. So, effectively, this country is being run by that 10% (or less) who does. That's not government "by the people..."

And I know what you're thinking "Seriously? You want me to pay MORE in taxes to finance these thugs' election campaigns?" It's a simple choice, my friends. Either you let them keep being bought and sold by special interest groups who NEVER have your best interest at heart, OR, you make them beholden to every single taxpayer in this Country just by upping your taxes a few dollars a year! I'd pay the extra taxes to get my government back, wouldn't you? The key would be to sharply limit how much any politician received. If you're running for a local office, you get XXXX amount of dollars. If you're running for state, you get XXXXX. Federal, XXXXXX. And not a dime nor even a PENNY shall you spend beyond that which you receive from the taxpayer. Not your own money, not anyone's money but what is allotted to you by the public coffers. And, I would further argue that giving them a flat, taxpayer-funded amount would virtually eliminate any and all "thugs" considering a run for public office.

Our current system of campaign finance is nothing short of legalized, thinly-disguised bribery. You know this, I know this, the people doing the bribing know this, and most acrimonious of all...the politicians know this.


And therein lies the rub, doesn't it? We're going to have to find some way, as citizens, to make this become the law of the land. Because we all know there's not a single politician, from the local city board all the way up to the White House, "left" "right" or "in between" that would ever vote "yea" on a bill that would enact this as law. Hell, you'd be hard-pressed to find a politician who would even propose such a bill with a straight face!

I'm not going to tell you I know how to make this happen...because I don't. But for anything else to be accomplished, this must be the first step.