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Previously: Democracy and the Constitution Publicly Funded Elections Conservatives and Christianity CS Hall of Fame |
Someone please explain this to me. You drive recklessly down the highway going 30 MPH over the speed limit, putting a lot of people's lives in jeopardy -- and at most all that's going to happen to you is you get a traffic ticket that will cost you maybe $100 or so. And if you happen to know a lawyer or a judge who owes you a favor, then you'll probably get the ticket dismissed completely. BUT -- you get caught paying someone for consensual sex and it's a federal crime! You haven't endangered the lives of anyone, you haven't put anyone in harm's way, you haven't even affected the lives of anyone outside your immediate family. But you're liable to do jail time, and if you are a public official you are pretty much expected to resign your position. Can someone explain to me how a civilized society can have such absurd priorities? This is insanity. Of course in all the media discussion of the Spitzer scandal, this issue hasn't even been raised. But there's an even more important issue that is being totally ignored. And that is why is it that time and again we see public officials do such incredibly stupid and hypocritical acts? Just in the past year we've seen Sen. Larry Craig, an avowed anti-gay politician arrested for lewd conduct in a public restroom. Then there was Sen. David Vitter, a politician who preached family values only to be caught up in a prostitution ring. And now we have Gov. Spitzer, a crusader against corporate crime, now caught up in a sex crime himself. How does this happen time and time again? The answer is painfully simple. The way our political system works today is that the ONLY way to get elected is to sell your soul to special interest groups. It's the only way you can raise the amount of money and get the backing necessary to win an election. Thus, by definition, every elected representative has already prostituted themselves before they even take office. By the time they are sworn in, they are already morally bankrupt. It's a by-product of the system. They have no morals or ethics because the system we use to elect them guarantees it. And the answer? Simple -- publicly funded elections. You take a penny from anyone and your campaign is immediately terminated, no questions asked. And if you are already in office and take money, then you are fired on the spot. We implement this and bingo -- every one of our representatives in government truly does work for "we the people". It's the way democracy is supposed to work. And without publicly funded elections, democracy doesn't stand a chance of surviving in this country. It's that simple.
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