As I suspect may be the case for many of you, the volume of email and texts I've been receiving for the past several months is staggering. I'm not that popular, it was all from candidates and political operatives begging, cajoling, and attempting to scare me into donating to their cause. Some days it was a contest between the pols and the scammers looking to fleece me. I kept count just for grins--on average 112 emails and texts a day plus a few, maybe 3 or 4 actual messages of some importance--usually reminders of doctor appointments.
I know a little about fundraising and about how to write email/text headlines and copy that will be read and acted upon. I can honestly say that very little of what I experienced set a high bar for either practice, yet it clearly must work because, as we know, a prodigious amount of money was spent both at the Federal and State levels. In 2020 a new record was set, over 14 billion dollars, we can suppose 2024 exceeded that handily.
Of course, what is an investment of some billions of dollars when the stakes are so much greater, especially if most of those funds are coming from you and me? I don't mean the political stakes--though that is what we should be concerned with, but rather, the grift. Although those of us who support candidates and donate to help them get into office are focused mainly on policy --and especially those that affect us personally, the real beneficiaries are those who will reap profits in contracts, in patronage, and in outright grift conducted with the blessings and sometimes the assistance of the very people we elected to office.
Don't mistake this for petty baksheesh, which is the way things are done in many so called 3rd world countries. Nope, that is penny ante stuff, beneath the dignity of those whose term in office will line their pockets and those of their most important supporters with serious loot. And the best part of it is that all of this, the election, the grift is all paid by us, at the expense of educating our children, treating our sick, addressing poverty, famine, and homelessness.
Now I am not saying all politicians are crooks. Mark Twain famously said that there was no permanent criminal underclass in America.....save for Congress. I am not quite that cynical, however. I do believe there are some hard working men and women who are in office to serve their constituents. But that does not mean we should close our eyes to what is plain to see.
I am willing to support a candidate or cause I believe in but the incessant solicitation has gone beyond the pale. It's time we revive a truly democratic approach to electioneering and create a level playing field. Let's designate an extra $20 through every tax return for a federal election pool. Every candidate gets a fixed sum to spend as they see fit and no other contributions are permitted, not from taxpayers, corporations or PACs.
Instead of battling commercials, emails and texts let every broadcaster set aside time for weekly presentations and/or debates beginning 60 days prior to the election. Do the same for editorial coverage in periodicals--equal time, equal space and ban all political memes, comments and posts from social media for 90 days prior to an election, save for official statements of the candidates, accorded equal access.
Regardless of where you stand politically, imagine the restoration of sanity and return to a focus on issues rather than the vilification of the opposition. Imagine a full, frank and thorough discussion of the issues we care about. Imagine what our founding fathers imagined, a process inspired by civil, thoughtful, and honest exploration of the real differences between candidates for office. And imagine what $10 billion in our hands could do. I know, it won't happen, the genie is out of the jar and the circus must go on, I just can't help but imagine.
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