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Money and Politics
You're never going to get lobbyists and money out of politics, because they're essential to our system, to some degree. Free speech includes political speech, and you simply can't prevent people from petitioning the government as a group. Money is integral to the whole process because, even in a perfect world, it would still take money to run a campaign. The only alternative would be government-run campaigns, and those would hardly be conducive to transitions of power.

What eliminating primaries would do is to fragment parties, so that not all of a party's money would go to one candidate. It would also mitigate the effect of lobbyists, while still allowing groups to lobby. Right now, candidates need the support of a few lobbies to get anywhere (e.g., unions for the Democrats, the NRA and churches for the Republicans). With a bunch of people running, it would be much harder for lobbies to assure they'd bought their candidate, let alone their office.
Posted by: bhartman36   Posted on: 10/10/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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In a word:  HypnoToad | 10/07/05
All Hail The HypnoToad...  Doc Farmer | 10/08/05
HypnoToad gets my vote  Squawkbox | 10/08/05
All glory to the HypnoToad...  jbroche18 | 10/10/05
Why Not Use Lottery Machines?  Doc Farmer | 10/08/05
Just What We Need...  progan01@... | 10/08/05
Perhaps you should re-read my article.  Doc Farmer | 10/08/05
Receipts  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
Not going to happen...  Outside T. Box | 10/10/05
Money and Politics  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
Yes, it would fragment parties  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
Re: Money and politics  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
Old Reliable machines...  jbroche18 | 10/10/05
Old Reliable machines...  Doc Farmer | 10/18/05
A precinct captain's dream  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
A precinct captain's dream  Doc Farmer | 10/18/05
The more complex the system...  John L. Ries | 10/08/05
Can't stop progress...  X Marks The Spot | 10/09/05
That argument could be used...  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
I-voting  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
Hah!  Outside T. Box | 10/10/05
Hell, no!  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
Fools gold  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
Secrecy  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
The problem here is...  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
Public Inspection  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
How much do you trust...  John L. Ries | 10/10/05
Trust, But Verify...  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
The Best Solution  Roger Ramjet | 10/10/05
I like it.  Update victim | 10/10/05
Correct solution - FAST and SAFE  Update victim | 10/10/05
Overestimating Voters  bhartman36 | 10/10/05
Where am I  Jay Cash | 10/21/05
Where Is You?  Doc Farmer | 10/24/05
Message has been deleted.  myfevertoy | 10/22/06

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