I'm with you, Sg, Todd, and others. Do away with private funding, and you do away with a sizeable amount of the corruption in the system. Term limits would rid us of any incumbents who may have become infected with the slime bug during their tenure. I know the smear campaign strategy is well-established, and despite my amazement, it must be working, but I like to think that less influence from private interests could translate to more attention being given to the GOOD things candidates want to do, as opposed to the BAD things they (may) have done.

On a side note, I was watching TV with my oldest (12) on Saturday, and an ad for our good friend and neighbor Patty Murray came on. As is the custom, Rossi took a savage beating, without so much as an opportunity to respond (until the next commercial break, anyway, where he got his come-uppance). My daughter sat there shaking her head. I asked her what was on her mind, and she replied, "Dad, those people are jerks!"

I love that kid....

My daughter sat there shaking her head. I asked her what was on her mind, and she replied, "Dad, those people are jerks!"



Negative ads, which all the cantidates are using, certainly contribute to the perception that all politicians are jerks. If both side keep telling us the other is scum . . .

" Do away with private funding,"

Pipe dream, never happen it is a first amendment issue.

Todd, to that add... make it a legitimate 3 party system(or no party at all, I believe political parties are a big part of THE problem), and do away with the electoral college.

B

Tom:

At first, I was confused by your statement that private campaign contributions are protected by the First Amendment, but I just read up on it, and sure enough, there is a campaign finance subsection that explains it. And all this time I thought the Bill of Rights was all good stuff....

I would paint a silver lining in that the Constitution can always be amended, but then I realized that the would-be amenders are the very people whose campaigns profit from private contributions.

Assuming politicians don't want to cut their own throats, it appears that public funding for campaigns is a pipe dream. Ugh.

Well, term limits might still be possible, right?