Reply #21: Yes and no... [View All]

[TygrBright]

...your observations are spot-on, but the conclusions you draw seem to be based on the assumption that we can't change the system effectively, and I disagree.

If we had a public financing-plus-spending limit rule for campaigns, for example, permitting a tiered ballot and proportional-choice voting, we'd have greater freedom of access to then ballot and more emphasis on getting actual voter turnout, which would make populist campaigning necessary for all candidates.

I agree, having been a "legislative advocate" myself, that few if any elected officials can make sufficiently informed decisions about the whole range of issues for which they are responsible. And that having ready access to information provided by groups with a strong stake or 'special interest' in the issue at hand is critically important. Such information has to be balanced, however, with information from legislative staff and intra-governmental sources, as well as more objectively-focused sources.

The poison enters the system when the value offered by lobbyists is no longer information or direct voter support, but money for re-election campaigns or party coffers to cement majorities, etc. We MUST unlink the connection between lobbying and funding.

adamantly,
Bright