How to Fix Our Broken Government by Changing Contribution Rules

None of our economic problems will get fixed as long as our government is broken, and our government is very broken.  It is broken for one simple reason: money.  People and companies in Washington with lots of money are allowed to buy influence, and being in Congress has become a job that legislators will do almost anything to retain.  Both of those things need to change.

In addition, methods for manipulating public opinion have become very effective.  Some view lying simply as a tactic rather than a moral issue. Manipulating public opinion costs a lot of money, but that isn’t a problem.  It is worth a lot of money to rich people and companies to get preferential treatment from the government, and that is what they do.

This is a very difficult problem to solve.  The rich and powerful almost never give up their privileged positions without a struggle.  The people in Congress who must solve the problem are those who are causing it, but we must find a way to prevail.

Some of the following proposals may be implemented with laws.  Some may simply require rule changes in Congress.  Some may need constitutional amendments.  But whatever the process,  this is what needs to be done.

Political Contributions

- Contributions Only from Your Constituents

Only individual people should be able to contribute to the campaigns of persons running for elected office, and they should be able to contribute only to candidates for whom they are eligible to vote. If the candidate is not going to represent you, keep your money out of the election.   

Only individual people can vote, and they are the only ones who should be able to influence the outcome of an election through political contributions.  No companies, corporations, labor unions, organizations, political parties, or other entities except individual, living people should be eligible to make political contributions in money or kind to any candidate for elected office.  Likewise, none of these groups should be able to run advertisements on their own that clearly are designed to affect the outcomes of the election by supporting or denigrating a particular candidate.

The Supreme Court may believe that corporations are people, but people know that they are not.  By people we mean real, live, sitting-in-your-living-room people.

Small Amounts Only

No individual should be able to contribute an amount to a campaign that is so large that by itself it significantly affects the outcome of the election and causes the candidate to incur a special indebtedness to the contributor.  Successful candidates must receive broad support from many people.  A small dollar limit such as $500 dollars should be placed on contributions from one person to one candidate during one election.