Politicians and Campaign dollars,,,,,

[Frankie]

Watched the news last night and I can not believe the amount of money put into campaigns. :new_shocked:

In our state,,,,,,for ONE congress seat, the 2 candidates spent 6.3 million dollars combined! 6.3 MILLION!

Now that is for only one race, there are a whole bunch more.

Why do we allow for that????? Why isn't there some type of a cap? You know, if we told them, depending on the position they were running for, they could only spend X amount of dollars, maybe they would get their butts out to the people more. Meet the people, and maybe, just maybe hear what they want for their state and country. But with all the money they can spend,,,,we only see them on TV and on a web page.

The report ended by saying that if all the money spent in any one state for campaigning was given to the state itself,,,,,,,,MOST of the states would then have money in access,,,,,and no debts.

Now I'm not suggesting that those people give their money to the state,,,,,,but when a million children in this country go to sleep every night hungry,,,,,,,,,I have a real problem with a congressman spending over 3 million dollars to become a congressman.

Maybe they should be required to give a million dollars to a childs charity for every million they spend on the election.

:

 

[rabbitsfizz]

This is an International problem.

I for one am sick and tired of politics.

It's about time one country- any country- had the guts to stand up and say "Enough, already, no politics- None, what soever- ALL parties must form a coalition until this country is out of the mess it is in (There is NO country on the world that is NOT in a mess, unless you count Switzerland!!)

 

[littledonkeys.com]

politics will not change, it was like this 200 years ago, just have to live with it. There could be some change if we adopted a third party that actually won big

The bulk of the money spent is on travel and staff

 

[Pepipony]

I highly doubt it was like this 200 years ago. Back then Politicians had morals and standards. Now, they can say whatever, whenever, no matter if it has any truth behind it and there is NO accountability. None. Nada. Zero. Zip. People will not hold them responsible for what they say, unless its the other guy. We all know the other party lies and nothing but flowers and sunshine springs from our candidates mouths. I get sickly tickled when one says that the other runs a negative campaign because they have nothing to say, yet run their own negative campaign and speak tons, yet nothing of worth comes out. I have yet to hear one that actually says something to where you get its their true thoughts and not what they have to say so you will fall in line and vote for them.

I say ban political parties. Its not a job for the benifit of Americans, its a job for their own benifit. If it werent, they wouldnt be paid , FOR LIFE, for it. There is far too much back stabbing and LIES ( flat out bald face lies that people just suck up). Get rid of lobbiests as well, no more 'gifts', dinners etc. Get back to running this country ( and not others) and taking care of our own.

 

[littledonkeys.com]

Hamilton vs. Burr ring a bell, duel death, politics is much neater today...lol

There was a civil war partly due to politics

 

[Pepipony]

I can see a difference in just the 23 years I have been voting. Of course there will always be a problem here or there, but the runs this years are rediculous. Talk about only being able to vote for the lesser of 2 evils

:

 

[littledonkeys.com]

just remember a vote for democrats is a vote for Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. Nancy will be speaker of the house if they win, 3rd in line for president.

A women who supports late term abortion on demand paid for by tax payers

A women who supports the rights of minors to get abortions paid by tax payers without parental notification

A woman who rallied for illegals

A women who rallied to lower the legal age of concent to 12

 

[Pepipony]

Hey now, that is just the BS and stuff politicians are pulling. Bout as sad as Bush' you are either with us, or you are with them' bs. Voting for one or 2 people isnt a vote for them all, its a vote for those 2. You DO NOT KNOW that Pelosi will be 3rd in line, you are stating a thought, not a set thing. That is the very thing this campaign is full of. No facts, just what ifs and trying to scare people into doing what they want with no factual basis behind it.

Wanna go that route then a vote for a Republican is a Vote for Bush. Its a vote to further increase our deficit ( beforehand they blamed Democrats, who can they blame now?) . Its a vote that lets Bush know that his statements of 'we never were 'stay the course' and ' I would still be for this War even if my wife and dog were the only ones behind me' are just fine. One is a bald face lie the other is a pure statement that he DOESNT CARE what the people want, only what HE wants. Least this is fact, absolute unarguable fact.

I dont vote party lines, I vote by whom is best. Doesnt matter if they are rep , dem, pink or whatever.

have to add, sorry, after re-reading I see that you are meaning this vote with Pelosi, thought you were referring to the next Prez election with that my apologies

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Every time we come to a general election I think of animal farm........

And the more he looked form the pigs to the men, the less he could tell the difference.....

Of course Orwell was disillusioned with Communism at the time, but nowadays, well, quite frankly you would need a DNA sample to tell the Pigs from the Men!!!

 

[littledonkeys.com]

pepipony, that is how it works, if the pres and vice president were to die, she would be interim president

Order of Succession accoring to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792

The President

The Vice President

Speaker of the House

President pro tempore of the Senate

Secretary of State

Secretary of the Treasury

Secretary of Defense

Attorney General

Secretary of the Interior

Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary of Commerce

Secretary of Labor

Secretary of Health and Human Services

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Secretary of Transportation

Secretary of Energy

Secretary of Education

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Constitutionally, Congress is to decide who is next beyond this point.

 

[Pepipony]

I understand that, but that is pure fearmongering, exactly what this administration has been doing. When is the last time the 3rd in line has taken over anyhow? This projecting into the future, for a race that hasnt even been run, to make decisions on that now is just wrong. About as bad as voting a party line just because thats the way the party goes ( to me that is communist, think about it)

I am on the verge of a migraine here so cant quite recall names ( grrrr) but didnt the Republican Speaker just step down for some major 'moral misjudgement'?

Cant say how I will vote in the next Prez election, dont know enough about Hillary to make a choice, but as it stands I do hope she doesnt run. That is based on the gut feeling I have for her, she must be doing something right to be elected in again.

LOL rabitttz isnt that the truth! This next comment is about the people that have done wrong, not the entire party. I think it hilarious, in a sick way, to recall all the comments during the Bush/Gore campaign about how the Republicans need to be voted in to bring a sense of morality back into the White House. Morality shmorality, that very idea is all but gone from politicians minds.

 

[Pepipony]

Frankie, if you had the power to change it, what steps would you take? I agree with allowing them a set amount, period, but would you make it per person or a lump sum for the party to split up as they wanted?

I would give each person , like you said, a set amount for the position they were running for. Allow a secondary entity a smaller amount for positive commercials for that person. No big budget for the party to then split as they wanted, unless they ran positive commercials for their guy.

No negative commercials, unless you can prove that it is the entire truth, if you cant then you loose all your upcoming commercial time. This would stop the 'they voted down this' , when they fail to mention that either it was voted down because they voted for a similar one that their party was sponsoring or because they were voting on a huge list of bills and didnt want another to get through, so had to vote that one down.

When campaigning the things they say have to be factual. Cant recall which race ( Bush/Gore or Bush/Kerry) but in one debate each spouted figures and neither one got a single sum right. Hold them accountable.

Basically keep to the facts, tell us what 'you' are running for. Dont ask the other person to spell out something that you havent spelled out yourself. Hate when they do that! Bring ethics back into play.

 

[littledonkeys.com]

I know there is only a remote change in the world that the 3rd in line gets it, but Pelosi scares me to death, I mean that to the deepest part of my soul. She is further left than that socialist party they elected in vermont

 

[Pepipony]

I understand that. That is why there should never, never ever, be one party that controls all the branches. There has got to be checks and balances. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. We have now seen that happen.

Having a President, from any party, state that they would still be for something even if ' the only ones behind them were their wife and dog' both terrifies and ticks me the bloody **&^ off. Talk about being out of touch and too far into thinking they are omnipotent.

 

[Boinky]

unfortunatly it's how it goes

I never understood how people could reelect bush after the first time around!! blew my mind that he even got elected the first time.. OHH WAIT.. he wasn't elected by the people.. he screwed his way into the office twice with vote tampering and the electoral college. both terms he has done terrible and I cannot beleive he hasn't been impeached.. seriously.. other presidents have had serious charges brought against them for FAR FAR less and stupid things than what bush has done. Personally i thinkt he whole electoral college should be discarded and the election TRULY run by the peoples vote..not by a few individuals who will vote how THEY wish not how the people wish.

I think the facts that he lied and went into iraq under these lies and still will not take accountability and no one is DEMANDING accountability and bringing him up on charges ASAP is rediculous. I can tell you if it were many other common working people who screwed up even half as bad as he has.. charges WOULD be filed and that person would be held accountable.

Bush is a very sore topic for me......

 

[littledonkeys.com]

thank you moveon.org for your wonderful post. But its your right to believe in the GREAT RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY.

The electorate is there because the general population is stupid on what it takes to make a country work.

80% of the country cant name the secretary of state

Now you know why we have the electorate college...the american public in large dont know what it takes to run a country, that was proven in smaller races when all these celebrities get elected and the 1st socialist ever got elected...stupid people vote too.

Speaking of charges, why wasnt Clinton Charge for Purgery? The common man would get a year in jail for not telling the truth on a check forgery, let alone misrepresenting to a Federal Judge

 

[Boinky]

Are you calling me "moveon.com"?? i don't have a clue what the heck your talking about. Anyhow YES stupid people do vote too..but it doesn't seem like the electoral college is doing much better job of deciding who's going to run the country. I'd say the electoral college seems to be pretty stupid too. why not let all us "stupid" people make a choice for once and see how it goes? can't get much worse!

I absolutely agree.... these presidents, congressmen, senators, everyone. SHOULD be brought up on charges when they do something wrong.. THAT'S what i'm saying. There needs to be a whole lot more accountability for the people who are running our country PERIOD. if they had to face charges for doing seriously wrong things... then maybe they'd think a little harder before making a leap into something that is NOT right. Anyone else would be brought up on charges for what some of the crimes these people have committed..but because they are part of our governement..apparently it's not wrong doing....

 

[littledonkeys.com]

no I am not calling you anything but your name.......lol

It was a cliche' (sp?)

Moveone.org claimed the same thing a while back, but they are way out there on most everything

the electorate did what it was suppose to. You have to have a balance of power on several levels.

Many times, though, the electors are simply important persons whose wisdom, it is hoped, would provide a better choice than a larger body.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College

In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won 185 electoral votes to Samuel Tilden's 184, but Tilden won a majority of the popular vote with 4,300,590 cast in his favor versus 4,036,298 cast for Hayes.

In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won 233 electoral votes to Grover Cleveland's 168, with 5,439,853 popular votes for Harrison and 5,540,309 for Cleveland.

In other words, stupid people would cause the country to crash, the electorate balances that out, almost every country has a version of this, from the USA all the way down to Finland

 

[Boinky]

but i guess my question is..without actually electing those people into office..how do we know that they may or may not have done a better or worse job than the elected official? Yes occationally you can tell from past track records..but not always. And truly whats to say that the electoral college is not a group of stupid people?? lol there's alot of stupid people in this world and i'm sure the electoral college has no exclusion to such individuals. I think there is a lot that could be done to clean up politics and hold people that need it accountable. i certainly think accountability would go a long ways towards cleaning up some of it!

 

[littledonkeys.com]

yes stupid people in there probably, let me rephrase.......ignorant. I am a stickler for politics and very strict in my beliefs. I guess its for the best I dont run a country, I would make people take a test before voting...lol but i am not even the boss of me, my wife is.....lol

Ok lets look at it from this perspective, the one of only ingorants voting and with no electoral college.

Venezuala: Veceinti Fox (sp?) - do I need to elaborate? Elected by the people

Cuba - Castro - People elected him

Palestine - Hamas - People elected a terror org as leadership?

Iraq (pre 2003) - Suddam Insane - Elected by the people

Soviet Union - (Bolsheviks) Stalin was basically elected by the people

Germany - Hitler was elected by the people