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It would be cool if we ran our elections like one of those TeeVee reality shows.
First, corporate donations and attack ads would be banned. Then, instead of the usual mudslinging contest, we’d just hand each contender a small wad of public money (say $1 million for Senate races) and give them a year to “invest” it however they wanted.
At the end of the year, the media could help us all review what each candidate had accomplished with the money, and we could all decide who was the better person for the job based on that.
So, if Dino Rossi wanted to show what a good money manager he was, maybe he could start a company with the $1 million. At the end of the year, if his company was making money, employing people, and producing something socially useful, we could evaluate his character and ability on that basis.
And if Patty Murray wanted to show how compassionate she was, maybe she could do some research and donate her time and the $1 million to some non-profit organization. Then the non-profit would go do great things with the money, and Patty could bask in the glow.
Or maybe they’d each do the opposite thing we expected of them, with Patty starting a business and Dino building houses for poor folks.
Or maybe they’d each do a little of both.
Or maybe they’d pool their efforts, and pull a fast one on the rest of us by working together to build a successful real estate business that donates a portion of its profits to Boys & Girls Clubs.
8>)
As I see it, my proposal would accomplish three things:
- It would limit the influence of corporate money in campaigns.
- It would allow us to judge a candidates fitness to lead others based on his or her deeds, rather than words.
- It would spare us all the negative campaign rhetoric and make elections shorter, nicer, and more interesting.
The only problem I foresee is that the Supreme Court might not go for it, because they think corporations are people, too, and in their eyes it wouldn’t be fair to keep the corpo-people out of the process.
Weird, huh? When I was a kid it was a lot harder to be people. Now they’re letting everyone in . . .
It’s simply mad!
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