There is always money to influence politics – should this be limited? Image courtesy of www.kialo.com
Welcome to the 2024 Election Season. Well, this started last year and is in full swing today. Have you had enough yet? I have between the non-stop news coverage and the constant barrage of texts, emails, commercials, and phone calls telling me who I should vote for and why. For the 24-hour period after Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felonies his campaign donations totaled over $54MM. Trump’s total campaign received over $140MM in May. Biden had a campaign event in May that included Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. This event netted over $26MM in one night and his total campaign contributions for May were ~$85MM. Between both candidates a total of over $225MM was raised in one month. What did we as the American people get for that money? I know I got more texts, emails, commercials, and phone calls telling me who to vote for and why.The problem is not just the volume of messages from the various platforms that stalk us, but the content is all about character assassination, misinformation, and disinformation. How can we change the game? Let’s take a look.
“Politicians should wear sponsor jackets like NASCAR drivers, then we know who owns them. “
Do we need this level of transparency from our politicians? Photo courtesy of Reddit.
I couldn’t agree more. It is expected that our politicians look out for the best interests of the areas they represent. This is what they are elected to do. The problem occurs when corporations and big donors like George Soros and the Koch brothers use their money to influence elections, promote their candidates, promote specific companies, ideologies, etc. We see this most recently with “Soros-backed DAs” who are soft on crime resulting in a drastic increase in violent crimes in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These same cities then report a “significant drop in crime” when the DAs choose not to prosecute violent crimes or reduce the charges. This masks the problem as the numbers look better, but doesn’t help the American people. The political donations are tax-deductible so they help the donors while buying influence and make no mistake about it, these donations are all about influence. The money is used by the campaigns to buy time on multiple platforms to do “negative campaigning”. This “negative campaigning” has turned into character assassination and I believe has been a major contributor to the division within America. What a stellar example we are setting for our kids.
How Can We Fix This?
We may already have the answer in hand. For those that file IRS Form 1040, there is a box on the form to check if you would like to have $3 go to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. The purpose of the fund is:
“This fund helps pay for Presidential election campaigns. The fund reduces candidates’ dependence on large contributions from individuals and groups and places candidates on an equal financial footing in the general election. The fund also helps pay for pediatric medical re-search. If you want $3 to go to this fund, check the box. If you are filing a joint return, your spouse also can have $3 go to the fund.”
Checking this box on your IRS Form 1040 contributes $3 to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund – Image courtesy of 20somethingfinance.com
If the money received from this fund is the ONLY funding for Presidential campaigns and is divided evenly between the candidates then many of the challenges we see today are severely minimized. Of course, all corporations would need to have a similar cap, and this would be a huge hit to Political Action Committees (PACs), but I believe that while this limits influence, it will also limit the “negative campaigning” and subsequent character assassination. Campaigns will be forced to tailor their messages to highlight why their candidate is a better choice and what they stand for. Today, when the money is not used it goes to pediatric research. This is a tremendous cause and should not be abandoned. There are ways that we can restore that funding and should be implemented at the same time the change to funding political campaigns occurs.
Conclusion
In a world that is leaving many people behind and unable to keep up, we continue to pour our dollars into the world of politics. I was tempted to describe it as “sleazy” politics, but for those that follow I am sure you understood that. In the words of Ronald Reagan:
“Someone once said that politics is the second-oldest profession. I’m beginning to think it bears resemblance to the first.”
In my view these huge political donations breed corruption and dishonesty for most participants. How else can you explain public servants leaving office significantly wealthier than when they entered? Let’s see if we can try and change that model so that public servants do just that – serve the public. Let’s eliminate the opportunities for corruption and work with corporations and big donors to use their money to help those families below the poverty line, the homeless, the malnourished, those truly seeking asylum, etc. Think about a world where the wealthiest are committed to doing Jesus’ work and sharing their “extra” instead of buying more access and influence. By giving this money to governments we are only making those in government richer and increasing the gap and the challenges between the haves and have-nots.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel that political donations should be limited? Will this approach help curb corruption and dishonesty? Do you agree that we as Catholic Christians can help bridge the divide in America today? Your comments are always encouraged and welcome. If subjects as these interest you please follow me on Disqus. Have an awesome day.
In my early years I was a member of the Methodist church where I was baptized as a child and eventually became a lector for the church. I always felt I was a very faith-filled person, but that something was missing. My wife is Catholic and my children were baptized as Catholic and this helped me to find what I was looking for to be part of something so much bigger than myself walking together with Jesus. I was welcomed into the Catholic faith and received the sacraments as a full member of the Catholic Church in 2004. I am a Spiritual Director, and very active in ministry serving as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister in addition to providing spiritual direction. I have spent time working with the sick and the terminally ill in local hospitals and Hospice Care centers and found these ministries to be very difficult, but extremely rewarding.
You can read more about the author here.
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