Jonathan Rauch has a great idea for campaign-finance reform: “Stop. Just Stop.”
Under the reformists’ agenda, he says:
The problem is not corruption, at least not as traditionally understood; the problem is influence. In yet other words, influence is corruption. And in yet other words, because politics is all about influence, politics is corruption—at least until all contributions to political causes are so small that politicians won’t feel particularly grateful to anybody.
I’m starting to think removing influence from politics is the holy grail of the left.
It will never happen. In a capitalist system, politics is about money, since money is power and politics is the measurement of power. In a socialist system, money is replaced by violence. That is why Socialist systems tend to produce mass graves instead of wealth.
I have a Mencken Plan that would be better then the current farce. Since it’s all about money, controlling the Tax system is the key. Completly trash the current tax code. Redo the 16th (or is it the 18th? ) amendment. The amendment that allows income taxes. Make all taxes POS Point of Sale) taxes. Get rid of ALL tax breaks ( that is where the corruption is under the current system). Taxes must be spent in arrears; ie; this years tax reciepts are next years budget. No deficit spending. Any social programs must be paid for like any other outlay.
This program will never pass, since it will make the whole point of campaign contributions useless. No more tax breaks to make special interests rich. No more hidden campaign contributions to influence politicians to pass tax cuts to make special interests rich. No more deficit spending to provide large sums of money to special interests to make them rich. ALl expenditures would happen in the light of day and would require the support of elected politicians to pass. That means the voters could see at a glance just what their politician was up to and vote accordingly.
You see why this would never pass?