My friend thinks political parties should be funded by taxpayers

[HEyHEY]

He says do that and make private and corporate donations illegal. That, in his mind would make the parties accountable only to the taxpayers. And because OUR money would fund it, people would take a bigger interest. What do you think?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. He's right. That would leave the rich out in the cold.

No more U.S. being run by the rich.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I like the idea of publicly financed elections, but I would add that we would also

need a return of the Fairness doctrine as well, or else FAUX will just give the GOP all kinds of free exposure and shut the Dems out.

[lurky]

3. Then who decides what is a "legitimate" party and what is

just a fringe group? Who decides how much each party gets? Once the government holds the purse strings for political activity, then the government can pretty much decide who gets elected and who is marginalized. I don't think I want that.

[HEyHEY]

4. that's the one thing PLUS

You'd still have to raise money to start your party until you could be popular enough to be liable.... that could only be done through donations

[Eric J in MN]

6. There could be 10-to-1 matching funds.

Someone can give a maximum of $1,000 to a political party. The party gets $10,000 in tax dollars for each $1,000 it collects in donations.

[Eric J in MN]

5. It would be better than what we have now...

...where people pay $28,000 or more to eat dinner with Obama or McCain, and the money goes to the Democratic or Republican party, respectively.

Only the rich can afford to give $28,000 to a political party, and so they're getting access which others don't.

[geckosfeet]

7. Corporations pay taxes. Doesn't that make them taxpayers?

Not that I want to see the government in the pocket of big biddness.

The problem is that politicians sell us out. They take money from big business and protect them instead of us. They are happy to take our money too though.

[XOKCowboy]

8. He's exactly right. It's not likely to happen but he's still right

What politician can get 60 to 200 or so of his colleagues to cut their income by a factor of 100 or more?

Imagine no more Swiftboat ads or political TV ads of any sort? No office managers donating half of their annual salary at an oil company after a candidate endorses unlimited offshore drilling. No flying on corporate aircraft, no $50000 a plate fundraisers. In a perfect world no lobbyists.

Sure sounds good to me. :)

[arthritisR_US]

9. I agree that corporate donations should be illegal but I disagree with the rest. I think

that a percentage of each tax dollar collected should be put into a large pool (5 cents/dollar for example) and this pool is split equally between candidates and parties. I think all ads on TV, radio and print should be free as a public service and equal time given to all candidates.

[Cleita]

10. Actually, it's a good idea.

Each party gets the same amount of money to present their ideas. The one that uses their money the best supposedly is the one that will gain the biggest following. It will keep politicians honest, sort of, because they can't be bought. I would like to try it because from the very first inception,
it will shove the money makers out of government.

[benddem]

11. I'm not sure about the parties

but the elections surely should be!

[JVS]

12. My friend says we should do away with political parties altogether, along with the parliamentary...

system and instal a Tsar.

[Cleita]

14. I have a different idea.

Every citizen should serve their country two years out of their lives in either a legislative capacity or a military capacity. If they don't want to do military they can opt to be put in the pool for legislative capacity. The catch is that they will be put into the lottery like jury duty. When their name comes up in a toss then they have to serve.

[Sanctified]

13. I doubt taxpayer funded political parties would increase the publics interest.

The public pays for the military and a majority of the public takes no interest in what the military is doing in Iraq.