A
Campaign Financing Challenge from Drew Kopf to all other Candidates for Political
Office and for the Country as a Whole.
Add it up. How much money
will be raised and spent by political candidates running for office in just
the next year; between now (February 2007) and November 2008; just twenty-one
months or so. If each candidate for president raises $20,000,000.00 on average
that would be in the neighborhood of $300,000,000.00 if there are a total
of 15 candidates on both sides of the aisle and some non-mainstream party
candidates. And that’s not to mention the Political Action Committee
funds that get raised and spent on behalf of the various candidates that does
not get factored into the candidates actual financial figures, but which surely
gets factored in if and when their “guy” or “gal”
gets in.
Now, if we start adding
in the number of candidates for the 11 state gubernatorial seats, and the
number of candidates for the 33 United States Senatorial seats, and the number
of candidates for the 435 United States Congressional seats all being contested
on November 4, 2008, the figures approach a billion dollars. No? Okay, how
much? You tell me. But, it’s a lot. And, contest those figures or not,
everyone, even the candidates themselves say that the numbers and the system
that allows for if not actually encouraging such a financial frenzy is way
way way out of control. But no one is doing anything about it; certainly not
any of the mainstream party candidates; nor any of the incidental parties
or any of their candidates and the only independent candidates we see or hear
anything about are all “kagillionnaires” who don’t need
to raise money but spend whatever they want to spend to raise the stakes all
the more.
I offer the following
solution, which I believe is well within the power of the electorate to insist
upon, well within the country’s capabilities to endorse and to support
and well with in the capabilities of any candidate for any office in the land
to respect, commit to and insist upon adhering to even when and if the race
in which they are running starts to get tough.
If you just had a private
thought that sounded something like, “If there were half a chance for
whatever this guy is about to suggest to be practical, I’d like to see
it come about”, then, sir or madam, there may still be hope for you
yet. You are probably secretly or not so secretly repulsed by if not embarrassed
by the obscenity of the state of campaign financing in our country.
The real foundation of
the money game of politics comes down to power. Candidates take money and
make a note as to just how much came for whom and how much from all his cronies,
so that if and when the candidate wins, the guys who gave will be up for some
kind of special treatment as a reward for greasing the way. That special treatment
may come in the form of a political plum job, a nomination to a post, a contact
for a million widgets, or even as simple as fixing a traffic ticket. People
and companies, and remember companies are owned by people, want that power
so much that they often bet on all the horses in the race so that no matter
who wins they’ll have made their donations so they can apply pressure
later on. The entire “favor” thing is disgraceful in my opinion,
but it is clearly “the coin of the realm”.
My challenge is “back
to basics” easy. Since once the campaigning begins, the candidates do
very little else other than campaign related things, I suggest that we have
all candidates for each office meet at the same venue at each meal of every
day Monday through Friday and at those venues they meet and greet before and
after the meal and during or directly after the meal they debate the issues
in fair and open forum. Those attending would not be hand picked supporters
but members of the communities.
Every session would be
transmitted live in real time with no delays on a separate television channel
reserved expressly for that particular contest so that every one and anyone
could watch and listen to the candidates speaking preferably without notes
save for very technical things to which they feel they may need to make reference.
The sessions would also be recorded for “on demand” availability
to anyone who has access to a computer, a television or a radio.
The weekends would be
reserved for family time for the candidates. No formal debate sessions would
be held. Appearance by the candidates at public functions on weekends would
also be taped and archived for access by the electorate. The use of everything
in the way of “paraphernalia” such as bumper stickers, posters,
signs, ads, parades, loud speakers, TV commercials, and the like would be
considered to be in bad taste and shunned. Interviews on TV or radio would
include the candidates together in such a way as to allow them to speak to
the points of the broadcast personality but not to allow soft balls to be
thrown to one and hard balls to the other. The air waves belong to the people.
We can insist that broadcast be used in this way to the benefit of the people
rather than to permit the mind manipulating farce that has been the way of
campaigning for far too long.
Will any other candidates
get to read this challenge? I’ll be emailing their supporters a link
to this page. I’ll send it out to the media. But, the media stands to
loose tons of dollars if the challenge is accepted. It is doubtful if any
one in the media would publish my ideas on this matter. But, if you like the
ideas, you can move on it. Let’s see what we are all made of. Let’s
see if the challenge I propose gets reiterated to candidates by others across
the country. Take the idea and run with it. Right now, with this idea on the
table, there is for the first time perhaps since the days of the Lincoln Douglas
Debates a chance for the citizenry to get to really know their leaders before
they lead them astray.
The eyes are the windows
to the soul. So, no more cue cards, no more notes, no more teleprompters;
just give us the facts as you know them and speak your mind so we can really
get to know you. Those will be our sub-texts to the candidates soliciting
our vote and our support. Now, that’s my challenge. Any takers?
