You have almost certainly noticed that little box at the bottom of your tax return, where you can assign $1 be put into the pool to fund political candidates for Presidential campaigns. Opinions on political fund raising and political campaign improvement have been bandied about for decades. Together with the dodgy practices of lobbyists and large corporations who give to the campaigns of their chosen candidate, as well as the political fund raising events all of the candidates hold, it seems obvious that the big contributors have far more say than the average person in who gets elected. It also states that this won’t alter the quantity of your total tax or refund.
Consequently, though politicians talk, endlessly – at politically correct moments – about political campaign reform, that is all it comes to: talk. We still have the same old, same old way of choosing candidates. I speculate how many people check this box. I do not, because, just as I have no option in how my tax dollars are spent, I suspect that some of this money is spent on ‘administrative’ costs and does not go completely to the purported reason. Political fund raising events, combined with the various lobbyists, seem to indicate that the candidate with the most money wins. Senator McCain cried foul, stating that Obama was going back on his word. No one mentioned that Obama was taking a big risk in opting for individual contributions.
As it turned out, he raised huge amounts of cash from many millions of small donors, ultimately able to outspend Senator McCain and win the election. Most of us cannot afford, or are not inclined, to attend political fund raising events in which a dinner and a seat goes for thousands of dollars, going into what is typically referred to as the party’s ‘war chest’. Somehow, this phrase carries a connotation that seems less than democratic or even dignified. Then, Senator, now President Obama, changed his mind, deciding to forgo the Federal funds and rely severely on public support. We now have proof that the people, all of us, can have a say that changes the customary outcome of Presidential elections. Both then-Senator Obama and Senator McCain stated early on that they would be going the same route. In any case, perhaps this strategy will lead to sorely needed, true political campaign reorganization and the manner in which political fund raising is conducted.
For as long as I can remember, Presidential candidates have always opted for the Federally funded dollars – until this past 2008 election. It was a bold move for a politician, although we must assume his campaign’s data indicated that he could thus authorize the average voter with a grass roots style of political fund raising. Given the disapproval of President Bush and Obama’s platform of ‘Change’, this probably had much to do with the eagerness established by Obama supporters. Still, in this case, the guy with the most money did win. If the candidate with the most money generally wins, he certainly stood to lose if he did not garner adequate public support. Maybe, in the future, the people will be capable to have their say.
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