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You DON'T have a right to use your "limitless" resources to tell me who or what to vote for.
They have every right to whatever resources they want to tell you whatever they want. If you listen and make uninformed decisions that is your fault and your fault only. You are acting like they have a gun to your head. How about thinking for yourself? Too much trouble?
"However, elections simply cannot be bought, no matter how many dollars are spent",
Yes drink the koolaid right wing lemmings!
Big Money spent of 1 Billion Dollars in the last election for nothing....they didn't get anything out of it.
It's all in your head....this is just free speech for Corporations as guaranteed by the Constitution!
The GOP loves you!
Being you have all the facts, how about telling us how much the unions did give. And also include the ABA and Soros.
You may be right, you may be wrong. I don't know.
I think this info is important," A lawyer for Citizens United, Theodore Olson, said, "The vast majority of corporations are either nonprofit advocacy groups--like Citizens United--or small businesses." The ruling, he said, "enables individuals of limited means to band together to counterbalance the political speech of the super-rich."
They have every right to whatever resources they want to tell you whatever they want. If you listen and make uninformed decisions that is your fault and your fault only. You are acting like they have a gun to your head. How about thinking for yourself? Too much trouble?
I just don't think anyone should tell me who to vote for at all. In my post I also said that I hoped that by removing money from elections, we'd encourage people to inform themselves of the candidates and issues. So the implication that I can't think for myself is inappropriate.
But the whole idea of being bombarded with billboards and television ads is just wrong. I don't want to be subjected to any kind of brainwashing because, really, that's what it is! Why should the person with the most money get the loudest voice and by extension, the most power to sway an election?
This acceptance of limitless influence yields limitless malicious influence because there's no accountability. You can't find out who gave to what or who is behind certain ads and websites. Will there then be television ads to counter the misinformation dispensed by the corporation-sponsored advertisements? Do we really need to drown ourselves in pseudo-facts and hearsay in order to conduct a free election? Is this road really a good one to go down? I think not.
I believe in taxpayer funded elections. I believe, as I've written before, that anyone (person, group, corporation) who wishes to donate to a campaign should be allowed to with one condition: their money gets spread to the entire election, not any certain issue or person. That will make them think twice before they try to wield influence. If you want to emphasize a certain candidate, your money will end up going to all of them equally. That way, no one party, individual, or issue benefits directly, but the public DOES benefit by having more money for the candidates and issues to get discussed.
Wow, have you been under a rock for at least the last half century?
The teapot dome scandal is a case of an election and candidate being bought and sold by corporations and that was almost a century ago, we've only gotten looser with the level of corporate collusion. This has been going on since forever. Your view of how much power the voting population has is cute, but pretty unrealistic. Corporations just buy both sides with financing and threaten to cut them off if they dont comply.
People whine that politicians are corrupt and how corporations are running everything, this would be the primary reason for it.
I would suggest you give a good read of something like Manufacturing Consent.
Propoganda is to a democracy like a hammer is to a Dictatorship. You can't be very diligent with your vote if information is clouded.
-Thomas Jefferson
So...you don't trust your fellow citizen with his vote? You believe he can be bought?
Ok, fine. But with what would you supplant the current system?
But the whole idea of being bombarded with billboards and television ads is just wrong. I don't want to be subjected to any kind of brainwashing because, really, that's what it is! Why should the person with the most money get the loudest voice and by extension, the most power to sway an election?
What do you want, then? For the candidates to come to your house and speak to you personally? How else can they get their program out?
[quote\ You can't find out who gave to what or who is behind certain ads and websites.[/quote]
Sure you can. There are lots of organizations and websites out there which do precisely that. Of course, it requires you to look up the information, but it is out there. If you don't avail yourself of it, whose fault is that?
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Will there then be television ads to counter the misinformation dispensed by the corporation-sponsored advertisements? Do we really need to drown ourselves in pseudo-facts and hearsay in order to conduct a free election? Is this road really a good one to go down? I think not.
It's called democracy in action. You don't have any objections to that, do you?
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I believe in taxpayer funded elections. I believe, as I've written before, that anyone (person, group, corporation) who wishes to donate to a campaign should be allowed to
I won't disagree with that, but it would be expensive and probably add to the national debt.
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with one condition: their money gets spread to the entire election, not any certain issue or person.
So, if you are pro-life and you know your donation might end up in the hands of a pro-choice candidate, would you still donate?
I just don't think anyone should tell me who to vote for at all. In my post I also said that I hoped that by removing money from elections, we'd encourage people to inform themselves of the candidates and issues. So the implication that I can't think for myself is inappropriate.
But the whole idea of being bombarded with billboards and television ads is just wrong. I don't want to be subjected to any kind of brainwashing because, really, that's what it is! Why should the person with the most money get the loudest voice and by extension, the most power to sway an election?
This acceptance of limitless influence yields limitless malicious influence because there's no accountability. You can't find out who gave to what or who is behind certain ads and websites. Will there then be television ads to counter the misinformation dispensed by the corporation-sponsored advertisements? Do we really need to drown ourselves in pseudo-facts and hearsay in order to conduct a free election? Is this road really a good one to go down? I think not.
I believe in taxpayer funded elections. I believe, as I've written before, that anyone (person, group, corporation) who wishes to donate to a campaign should be allowed to with one condition: their money gets spread to the entire election, not any certain issue or person. That will make them think twice before they try to wield influence. If you want to emphasize a certain candidate, your money will end up going to all of them equally. That way, no one party, individual, or issue benefits directly, but the public DOES benefit by having more money for the candidates and issues to get discussed.
Perhaps if I made an analogy... If CD decides that only the highest bidder may post their ideas, what kind of forum would we have?
This decision undermines the spirit of process and adds to the corruption of representation killing my country. It's also adding to the volatile social justice environment that threatens to abandon the law under it's breath because the law is not being exercised in service to the constitution or to we the people any longer.
To the poster you were responding to... if you're resorting to bribery by any other name you'd still be a criminal. If my gov't doesn't feel itself obliged to enforce the law, I just might take matters into my own hands. Think again about what I owe you if your attitude towards the rest of america is this vile.
Uh yes... very easily. I'm sure most posters would agree.
Otherwise we wouldn't hear so much junk about George Soros and ACORN.
Can you be bought?
Of course not; neither can I, so what makes you think your neighbor can? Are you smarter and more aware than him? Upon what do you base such an idea?
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Well for starters I wouldn't aggravate the issue by allowing corporations to buy whatever ad space they wanted for candidates.
What about non-profit corporations, such as the NRA or VFW or Chamber of Commerce? Should they be excluded from the democratic process too?
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In an ideal world, kill all private financing and have all candidates funded publicly with equal amounts of money.
I'll agree with that, on the surface, but do you really mean ALL candidates? Never forget that there a huge number of candidates for any office. You just don't normally see their names on the ballot. There are hundreds of different parties, some as extreme as white supremacist groups and anti-Semitic organizations. Should they get funding too? What about Mickey Mouse, who is regularly offered up as a candidate for elective office? Or Elvis?
This isn't a silly question because it strikes to the heart of public funding: Who gets the money and who determines that?
Unions are HUGE money. They run the show in many arena, would have gotten breaks in Obamacare and are one of the major problems with public education (Teacher's Unions). It's not all Rich Republicans that will be buying politicians,and it won't be the first time Unions do..It's just now, it's legal.
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