Campaign Financing

We, the People who follow politics and the news from Washington, know about lobbyists. Jack Abramhoff and political finger pointing like "The culture of corruption" comes to mind. Unfortunately, this type of thing has been going on in congress for a long time and with both parties. It's more a culture of normal than any other culture. So what do We the People do about it?

First we have to realize how Congress works and then we have to look for a longer lasting solution to solve corruption. I didn't say permanent solution because we must continually watch and stay active so Congress does what we want them to do.

Congress seems to operate on the cycle of election and re-election. To do that they need money. I heard a congressman on the radio say they need at least a Million Dollars. There are 435 congress people. So that would be 435 Million Dollars every two years. Assuming the same for the Senate (which is a 6 year term but one third of them run for election every two years), that's another 33 Million every two years for a total of 468 Million. Let's be generous and say the National Election process requires 500 Million Dollars every two years at a minimum.

Then there are state political offices. States have the right to make laws of how that is done. But, just for the sake of argument, let's say it equals five times the cost of National Elections for all 50 states and We the People are going to pay for it. That's another 2500 Million Dollars. If you add them together, that is 3 Billion Dollars. Seems like a lot of money, doesn't it?

Now let's look at what the Congress recently did for the oil industry. Congress gave the oil industry 17 Billion Dollars as a subsidy. We the People are paying $3 a gallon for gas and the oil industry is showing record profits. Yet, Congress felt they needed to give the oil companies 17 Billion Dollars. That would be enough to publicly finance campaigns for the next five election cycles, or ten years.

My point is that if we have publicly financed elections, Congress would not be obligated to contributors and lobbyists for campaign costs. Where does their new obligation belong? To us, the People.

If you think that is just another burden on the tax payer, think about the promises and corruption in Congress we DON'T know about. What promises, what obligations are payed off by legislation to repay campaign contributions that only benefit some business or industry?

If we do the math on the 17 Billion Dollars, it comes to approximately $56 for every man, woman and child in the country. And that's just for one year! Our tax burden will decrease when We the People are the primary obligation of Congress.

How do we make this happen? Be active. Get involved in a political party of your choice. Make your voice heard by your representative and make it clear what issues are important to you. We the People (and I will never tire of saying that) need to take charge of our country. We ARE the government. It will not happen over night, but it will happen when we stay involved.

And that's as I see it. . .