Something I've always liked as an idea used in some non-US countries is a standing department that does "lifestyle investigations" of various government workers. Usually these are department heads, and high ranking officials.

Its quite simple really. They compare tax records with measurable income and outlay. If someone has income of 500,000 and has outlays of 720,000 and claim different figures on tax forms, they had better be able to explain the discrepancies.

For politicians, this would also include campaign income and outlay. Money is always ultimately countable.

We have the best US Congress and Presidency that money can buy.

When a Member of the US Congress spends millions and millions of dollars to get re-elected to a job that pays, on average, $165K a year, you know there's more self-interest at work than just a salary.

I compare this with our House of Representatives (we call it the "General Court") in my home state of New Hampshire. The size of our lower House, some 400 members, is HUGE in comparison to the state’s population.

As a result, the New Hampshire House is the largest state legislative body in the United States. But this also means that every ward of every city and every single town in our State has at least one representative in our State Legislature.

And, would you believe that a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives receives a salary of just $200 (yes, you read it right...two hundred dollars!) per biennium? They also get travel mileage along with free tolls on our toll roads. Wow!

Now, although a $200 salary puts some practical limits on service in the House, it also has the wonderful advantage of not being at all attractive to corrupt, self-serving, "fat cat" politicians.

Rather, I think we've been fortunate over the years to have maintained a representative cross-section of honest businesspeople, homemakers, educators, engineers, doctors, lawyers, students and retirees in our state government.

And, to me, that's EXACTLY the way true "representative" government OUGHT to work!

Personally, I think we ought to do a little of both. Make the wages of Congress closer to the median in the country, with cost of living increases only. And all elections should be publicly financed.

The penalty for political coppruption should not only be jail time, but loss of the pension as well. If a cororation is involved, let's roll back to the post Revolution days: the doors are closed, the people responsible jailed, and the assets sold to cover those hurt by the corruption.

Asking the government to fix what is wrong with the government seems awfully silly to me. Having a mandated exposure for monies received and monies spent might at least allow the voters to know who is behind their candidates.

When I see tons of dollars being pumped into the candidates, need to know what it is in their platform agenda that would make them better for their constituents. We see a lot of government contracts issued in Michigan Texas, California and other states. It is understandable that investors in these corporations would want the contracts that the government signs.

I do not see an interest in this subject by the voters or there would have been an outrage of how much money was given to Halliburton and the fraudulent way they threw it away.

Campaign Finance Reform:
The major part of our democratic form of government is made up of three elected groups: the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Executive Branch. The holders of these offices are elected by the people of these United States for the sole purpose of representing us in the affairs of government.
There is overwhelming evidence that our elected officials are representing interests other than those of the people. They are representing instead the interest groups who are most able to contribute to their reelection campaigns. Major corporations, both domestic and foreign, and political action committees are not only buying the votes of our politicians, in many cases they are actually writing the legislation to be voted on.

A large part of an elected official’s time is spent raising money for the next election rather than conducting the business for which they were elected. There is a well entrenched group of lobbyists whose sole purpose is to promote legislation for whatever group is employing them. The lobbyist’s main tool is the promise of large sums of money to be donated to the politician’s campaign and we would be fools to think that those donations do not influence the politician’s votes.

In my opinion, complete reform of campaign financing is the only way to change this travesty of democracy and get our politicians to represent us again. The reform of financing campaigns should include two main parts: First, since most of the money spent during campaigns is on expensive television ads, we need to establish a publicly financed "campaign channel" which would be devoted exclusively to the pertinent issues of the campaigns and provide air time for the ads that the politicians feel are so important. Second, ALL contributions from corporations, political action committees, and lobbyists need to be stopped completely. All funding for all campaigns needs to be equitably divided from a portion of the existing taxes we now pay. Individual citizens should still be allowed to contribute to their favorite politicians, but with an established maximum amount, say $10, instead of the $30,000 currently allowed.

Unrealistic? Pie-in-the-sky? Dream on? Probably. Government "of the people" has been amended to "Government of the people with the money". Granted, the recent McCain-Feingold bill has addressed the issue somewhat, but the issue still exists because of loopholes, relative weakness of the bill, and recent court rulings that parts of it are unconstitutional. It is evident through the current Abramoff prosecution that the lobbyists have much more access to, and influence over our congressmen than we, the people, do. It is further evident that the excessive time politicians spend in fund raising could be better spent in attending to business of our nation.

The road to to hell is paved with campaign contributions among other materials. We need to cultivate our inner Mother Theresas to care for humanity. We can't fight this political corruption away. It is the nature of greed to beget more greed. Welcome to hell.

It is beyond silly to think those who benefit from the system will change it. There is more than ample evidence that both major parties are corrupt and so there's little to be gained from a change of the party in power.
We have been struggling with this problem for as long as I've followed politics and I'm 76 years old. How long must we continue this farce which at best, merely gives us a brief interlude of 'apparent' change, before descending once again into the familiar corruption that is the hallmark of both major parties.

What is needed is a change in the system with a new party to represent those changes. Until we can defeat the propaganda of both major parties that a vote for a third party candidate is a wasted vote, we will continue to get more of the same.
We need public campaign financing, free air/TV time, and to outlaw lobbyists altogether. A change in pay would also remind the representatives of the people of the real cost of living as well as who they work for.
Even with all this, it will be difficult enough To get a 'government of the people' because there will always be a significant number of people who will vote for the monied people over the principled people, but at least "the game" won't be rigged entirely in their favor as the current system allows.

A way to get more traction on public financing or spending limitations for people running for government jobs is for concerned citizens to continually write letters to the editors of their news papers and to see if their arguments can be discussed more frequently on TV and radio.

Many good idealistic politicians now in office hate to have to beg and make promises to fat cats looking for personal or corporate advantage. We must find these people and get them to speak out. If they do not speak out, they should be pressured to do so with letters etc. Others giving away the store should be voted out of office.

Perhaps only 10% of Americans are very concerned about the way large contributions keep us from getting representatives that will do what they believe is in the best interest of America as well as their constituents. However, if we make enough noise, others may begin to realize that much of what goes on in the Federal Government is favoring the very wealthy at the expense of the hard workers who have difficulty making ends meet and who – through sales taxes and social security taxes and gas taxes – pay a much larger proportion of their small incomes to run our country than do those that are financially very successful. Those that are doing well through hard work and luck and fortunate birth should be happy to pay higher taxes to have government help those in need as well as attempt to have our country a better place for our children and future generations.

So what is this all about? Ok, we know money is thrown at people in positions of power. That's the nature of the beast.

What we need are people in office who will be committed to change.

It's so easy to contribute online to those who need the money to compete in their respective campaigns.

John Kerry raised a phenomenal amount of money online in a very short period. The time is now to raise the money to give to those who promise to affect change. To stand up and do what needs to be done in light of America heading towards fascism.

It's our last chance before people get so fed up that they resort to more drastic measures.

Instead of spreading the money around, all interested parties should unite in their efforts. Impeachbush, moveon, downingstreet, blackbox, etc could combine forces and raise hundreds of millions before the election. Filmmakers and producers could donate their talents and make effective, honest campaign ads that educate.

I watched the Harper's forum on impeachment and Elizabeth Holtzman(former Congresswoman who sat on the House Judiciary committee during Watergate)said that it wasn't Congress who acted first to impeach Nixon, it was the PEOPLE who demanded it.

There's so much to be done and so little time.

"Follow the money" isn't that old a rule. William Goldman penned the phrase in the screenplay for "All the President's Men" and it was so logical that we accepted it as "common knowledge." If only there were such a thing as "common knowledge."

We should give politicians a finite (and equal)amount of money with which to wage their campaigns. This will make them use a talent that all have seemed to forgotten. The ability to develop a budget and get the most for your money. What a revolutionary concept! If they lose, they have to pay the money back.

There will never be any third party, as long as the current 2 major parties set the rules. They exclude everyone who is not a demrep or a repdem.
In Texas the "lege" has very low pay, and they only meet once every 2 years, but they still spend $$$ to win, and the rules that they made allow them to live high on the hog(that being the lobbyists and the multi's) San Antonio has both the lowest salaries and the tightest term limits anywhere, but lots of money still spent. We have a city manager type of govt.

What the hell? It doesn't take money to legislate. It takes a pencil and a piece of paper.

CAMPAIGN REFORM IS WHAT NEEDS TO OCCUR IF WE EVER INTEND TO HAVE THE HUGE SUMS SPENT ON CAMAPIGNS
STOPPED. I THINK THERE SHOULD BE NO PRIVATE OR CORPORATE MONEY GIVEN AND THAT EACH AND EVERY CANIDATE THAT RUNS SHOULD BE GIVEN (BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT) THE EXACT SAME AMOUNT WITH WHICH TO RUN THEIR CAMPAIGN, THIS WOULD REQUIRE HAVING A TIGHT WATCHDOG COMMITTEE AND STRICT ENFORCEMENT. I AGREE WITH THE STATEMENT BOB POSTED (ABOVE IN THESE COMMENT) I ALSO THINK THAT OUR CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE THE SAME INSURANCE PROGRAM AS THE REST OF US AND NOT HAVE THE BILLIONS IN COVERAGE THAT WE CANNOT AFFORD AS TAXPAYING WORKING PEOPLE. AND THE LOBBYS HAVE GOT TO BE STOPPED FROM PROMISING MONEY TO CONGRESS MEN FOR GETTING BILLS PASSED...ENOUGH OF THE FREE TRIPS FOR EXPENSIVE GOLF TOURS AND PLUSH TRIPS TO VARIOUS PARADISES ETC. ..ENOUGH ENOUGH ENOUGH ! LET THEM DISCUSS THE ISSUES AT HAND IN AN AUDITORIUM .

I once ran for the State House of Representatives.
My opponent had no financial support from anyone in our District. All of his contributions came from sources that were not in our district.

It seemed to me at the time that a simple step could be made towards campaign reform - and posssibly increase voter participation in the elections.

Since elected officials are supposed to REPRESENT folks in their disctrict - whatever district that may be - only allow registered voters in that district to contribute to their campaign. I feel it should be a felony to offer or accept any other contributions from anyone or anything (group, committee, party) that is not a registered voter in the relevant district. This should force a great many very good things to happen (along with some of the unexpected kind).

After all, why should funds flow from anyone outside of the District to influence and election of someone who is supposed to represent that District? Also seems to me that only those who vote should be able to support a candidate!

Your Comments?

Ed

Somehow, somewhere along the way, the "pubic" airwaves - and I mean all TV channels & AM/FM radio - were stolen from us and GIVEN to the billionaire TV and radio moguls. We are left with C-Span 1&2, which I love, but its NOT enough - and it's NOT going to resolve the campaign funds issue. (No one asked me if I agreed to the sale of our airwaves!) We need to reclaim our heritage - and our rights. Kazo above, was correct in saying the majority of campaign funds collected is to pay for ads on OUR airwaves. If the ads - and candidates interviews, etc. were free (again) during a specified time prior to the primary and the Fall elections, the big money spiget would be turned off and the BIG contribution $$$ ballon would POP, resulting in modest outlays of funds for campaign posters, etc. The large contribution blitz by the billionaires backing their candidates would come to an end. WE NEED TO RECLAIM OUR - THE PUBLIC'S - AIRWAVES, NOW!!!!

Doug, When there's a slow day in your future I'd love to read a column from you on the history of the transfer of public to private airwaves! It's information I missed during the time I was working full time - and then some! Thanks! elgee

Thank you, krazo, for an enlightened explanation of a complicated problem. I'm tired of giving my $25 to a candidate and having the feeling I've poured it down a bottomless pit. I'm tired of not being represented by my congressman. I'm tired of believing our government is for sale to the highest bidder. Look where it has got us. Is there anybody out there who wants to be an honest leader and help us out here? Hello? I haven't the vaguest idea how to do it myself - if I did, believe me, I'd be out there doing it.

Doug,

I'm a big fan of "Billionaires for Bush".

Prior to the 2004 election they released a music video showing how George Dubya would win the election. Thru corrupt electronic election techniques. He was elected exactly as they predicted.

They've conducted numerous demonstrations to get the word out to the american citizen that George Dubya and his ilk are crooked.

Thanks Doug for recognizing a little known entity like "Billionaires for Bush".

Troubled Texan

I miss Doug Thompson's picture. Why did you remove it from the Rant page?

Darian writes:

I miss Doug Thompson's picture. Why did you remove it from the Rant page?

I got a haircut and haven't had time to have a new photo taken (I'm a photographer. I take pictures. I don't pose for them).

Doug