There are a lot of smart rational people who nevertheless are following the 'news' outlets that peddle FUD(Fear,Uncertainty and Doubt). That's big money and is destroying the minds of millions and destroying our nation.
Thank you.
Here in the U.S., money is considered speech and corporations are considered people, so thanks to our insane Supreme Court, pretty much all rules are considered un-Constitutional when it comes to corrupting our elections with money.
Senior Ben. So which of the 2 choices do you prefer ? Would you be in favour of restricting political donations to individuals and prohibit corporations and trade unions from donating millions to political parties ? In my mind the US donations system is a way to "buy an election ". JimB.
If I can chime in here.. I agree with you. I don't think huge donations from corporations etc. should be allowed.
I'm for publicly funded elections. Get big money out of politics and everything else will fall into place.
I'm not required to show ID, but I do have to sign in and my signature is checked against the one they have on file.
In Canada the regulations about political donations are actually a part of The Election Act. Depending on how many votes a party received in a Federal Election, some of their election expenses are refunded to them. In a national election a typical local candidate will have a budget of around $60,000 to $100,000 most of which will be spent on tv or radio ads, and out door advertising, and pamphlets. National parties spend money on travel costs for their Party leader, ( as it is a national election campaign ) across our 7,000 kilometer wide country, and in general the focus is on districts where the party has had a record of winning in the past. In Provincial elections the travel costs can still be huge. In my Province of Ontario the square mile area of Ontario is almost exactly one and a half times that of Texas, so going to all of the electoral districts is costly. In a national election in Canada it is a given that to win the election a party has to carry the majority of the seats in both Ontario and Quebec, to win nationally. Seats in Canada are based on a population of about 100,000 people per district, which in a major city means a lot more seats than in the far north. The Yukon Territory only has a population of about 35,000 people in total. So they only elect one Member of the Federal Parliament in Ottawa. At this time there are 341 Members in the Federal Parliament in Ottawa. JimB.
In the Canadian system EACH candidate must submit a detailed report of exactly who contributed to their campaign funding, after the election is over to either Elections Canada or the Provincial Elections board. Those reports are subject to auditing and reviews. BTW, here in the city of Toronto there is a City by-law the requires each candidate for city council or the school board, to remove ALL of their election signs within 5 days after the date of the election OR have them removed by city workers and be fined $100 for each one that had to be removed by the city. That works really well in terms of keeping the city clean. JimB.
I prefer your Canadian approach, and you are right about the election buying. However, as @SeniorBen points out this would be unconstitutional in the US. Only 2 ways I can think of we could do something about it:
Amen.
Entire election process 30 days max. Also mandatory "Neither candidate" choice that if the largest vote getter removes candidate from that office race for a minimum of 4 years.
