Obama will leave $80 million in the public treasury!
As regards Obama's signal call for the public (see below) to support his campaign directly rather than let the 527 groups, or the party machinery of the GOP go wild in their campaign season spin:
Capitalism asks people to buy into the system. OK, then let's do away with government as the source and middleman of public financing (it is our taxes they spend), but sustain its' duties as election monitor. Let's buy into our own elections. Donating as individuals under equitable rules, we, the people, become public financing. Capitalists would respect that. Money cannot buy the intelligence of the common man....but it can pay for the spread of common sense through public educational outreach campaigns,....but only if the people at large are willing to contribute to the educational outreach success (the whole idea behind PBS.)
Let individuals voluntarily contribute reasonably equitable amounts to specific campaigns, controling the ability of one partisan campaign or another to escalate the irrational "volume" of their campaign debate. Only real persons should be allowed to contribute personal funds to real candidates, ideally to the exclusion of party machines. Let the FEC continue to monitor and establish limits for, campaign financing, by donor and amount, so it can be easily seen what interested parties are spending how much. In this manner we can learn to analyze and separate that which is in the general welfare and of the common wealth, from control by special interests who have become greedy and should no longer be recognized as representing the will of the people. We need high quality well communicated campaigns, and we need candidates elected on merit rather than hype and spin.
Obama is discouraging 527 groups from clouding political debate with clever spin campaigns. I think 527's should have a place in the campaign season but they should not be able to lie or otherwise join the debate in a disruptive, manipulative manner. In the future the FEC should have the role of assuring that 527 messaging is of honest content and of rightful intent. If the current manner of "news" reporting continues in the media mainstream, there will already be plenty of disruption and distraction from the important issues. 527 organizations will always have a place among swing voter campaigns.
Please bear in mind that by not accepting money from the current system of public financing, Obama is saying he will leave the $80 million in the public treasury! That money can be well used to assist in the overall strengthing of our other weakened elections systems. We can use it to build a new and practical Help America Vote Act. We can use it to fund educational programs about instant runoff voting, the popular vote, ballot access, ballot initiatives, and even making voter Tuesday a national holiday.
I believe Obama's call to support him directly in affordable sums, pits the will of the majority against the special interests and manipulative power of the already rich. It represents the participation of people in their own governance. It legitimizes "people power". I believe it will serve those politics which broaden the "middle" class, and, in so doing, broaden the opportunities of the least fortunate.
I believe Obama is teaching us a "new kind of politics." Direct citizen participation in power. German philosopher Goethe said, "That government governs best which teaches us to govern ourselves." For too long we have been too content with letting others do it for us. So let's take a collective gasp, join the frey, and with our own little contributions, start taking back America from military/corporatist rule by force and greed.
I believe Obama has a point and I will support his leadership on this issue. I will send a donation today.
www.vote.org Power to the people.
George Ripley
********************************************************* Here are Obama's remarks:
Hi, this is Barack Obama.
I have an important announcement and I wanted all of you – the people who built this movement from the bottom-up – to hear it first. We've made the decision not to participate in the public-financing system for the general election. This means we'll be forgoing more than $80 million in public funds during the final months of this election.
It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system. John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs. And we've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations.
From the very beginning of this campaign, I have asked my supporters to avoid that kind of unregulated activity and join us in building a new kind of politics – and you have. Instead of forcing us to rely on millions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs, you've fueled this campaign with donations of $5, $10, $20, whatever you can afford. And because you did, we've built a grassroots movement of over 1.5 million Americans. We've won the Democratic nomination by relying on ordinary people coming together to achieve extraordinary things.
Democracy is the pre-eminent value of all Americans, our cherished birthright. My work is to help unite the electoral reform movement into a congruent platform which we can push forward as a nation.
Obama needs the people's support to win over the Republican smear tactics.
Obama said he would aggressively pursue with the Republican candidate, he did not promise to accept public funding. McCain would never make an agreement for an equal amount of money. McCain is not getting the support of individual small doner contributors.
I do not have a problem with a candidate that determines an earlier decision was wrong, unless they are changing directions to fool voters.
Obama is doing what is needed to compete against the lobbyist money McCain will receive. Having "the people" donate is not unethical or done to fool people. In fact, Obama's decision has been a necessary negative to his image.
Lobbyist have controlled the government for far too many years and we are all paying the price, while they line their pockets.
McCain's Flip-Flops to Fool Voters
McCain's flip-flop on offshore drilling was done to make voters think he was doing something that will ease gas prices. Experts say it would be 20 years to get a pay-off for drilling off-shore.
McCain continues to campaign about a gas tax holiday that is a gimmick that Congress will never approve. McCain knows it is a gimmick to fool voters.
by
Laura Kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 35 comments)
on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 2:08:55 PM
We need to remember the other streams of money that can be used to suddenly attack.
Campaigns aren't only supported by contributions to candidates. They are also supported by their party's polical leverage (which I consider suspect), as well as by partisan mainstream "news-tainment" and 527 attack monsters (it's always nice to have one when you need it) which can come out of nowhere with their weapon of truth or evil.
All of these entities have "spun" election events in the past. That is their expertise. For instance when the two major parties took over the presidential debates and purposefully have kept 3rd parties from participating. They have met their match in Obama. He is right, his action does futher a "new" kind of politics. He has bravely shocked America into rekindled interest in campaign financing. That is a very good thing to do for a president. The capability inspired by the web and Howard Dean's grassroots presidential campaign has given new hope to rennaisance visionaries of the new world order, the people.
As long as he is on the side of the people, Obama can go directly to the people for support. His success shows the real power of direct democracy, with the wallet instead of the ballot. I think Obama is showing wisdom, grace and style while under great pressures.
Please check out www.vote.org To take back America we must have legal proceedures. These are them, here they are.
by
GeoRip (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 46 comments)
on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 3:51:08 PM
