A Political Fix: should Warren Buffet have more votes than you?

Many of us complain over and over again about the political system in this country that seems so unresponsive to the needs of the people and so acquiescence to certain vested interests. Negative campaigning drives us nuts but we also respond to it and vote accordingly. Debate used as a search for truth appears nonexistent replaced with meaningless sound bites. And we wonder if the system is so broken that it is beyond repair and perhaps it is.

I have a thought. What if we could create a ground roots system where we would all contact our respective elected representatives with one mandate? That mandate being that no solicited or unsolicited funds could be used to run political campaigns. The only funds that would be available would be from the two dollars designated money when checked on the income tax returns (I would want it mandated.) We could state that unless they enact such legislation during their term in office we would not vote for them again thus making them one term legislators. I don’t care whether they are republicans or democratic or anything else or what other positions they hold, this one thing is paramount, and until it is rectified all other issues are secondary. We could further state in the mandate that any politician who uses negative campaigning will immediately loose 10% of their funding. The idea that they state clearly what their positions are so they may be compared to their opponents. Lying about their opponents would carry the same penalty.

I hate one issue campaigns, but in this case, it is the only way I can see to rebuild the system to make it accountable to the whole electorate rather than a few. Our recent history is that the richest or the canniest buy legislators to do their bidding. And that is why we have a tax system that is so biased towards the rich. They literally own the current system.

A follow up to this is that I believe that the funds designated to run a political office ought to be vastly increased, perhaps doubled. While the increases the cost of the government doing business, it would also make them more independent from outside influences. Currently most legislation is drafted by special interest groups (lobbyists) and then given to the political representative, cheap for the official’s office but almost guarantees the pushing of vested interests. Congressmen ought to do their own work. They are the one that should ensure the agencies that work for them are getting their work done properly. They are the ones that should be responsive to the changing needs of society and enacting legislation that meets those needs. They need the dollars and personnel to get that done.