Citizens united turns 4 Years old.

[Soleron]

badgenome said:

Soleron said:

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But PACs aren't direct contributions. The majority of new PACs are single issue pressure groups, which are generally more interested in influencing politicians to take certain stances or actions than they are in getting a particular individual elected.

Yep. That's all part of the problem.

I'm sure most politicians could gladly do without such annoying groups.

LOL.

While the runs up to elections are ridiculously long and overblown affairs here, PAC ads are a minor irritant compared to the year-round 24/7 campaigning on the part of the government-media complex to create and maintain a particular narrative. Again, it seems very arbitrary to me to say that anyone who happens to own a newspaper or TV channel can editorialize to his heart's content while anyone who doesn't is limited in terms of how much ad space he can purchase in other people's outlets.

I don't think they should be able to advertise on channels they own either. I'm not making any distinction between media owners and companies here.

If there is a problem with too much money in politics, it isn't a problem of outside money but "public" money.

Perhaps not outside money, but day to day all politicians hear about are the views of a very small and active group of companies and lobbyists. It's not surprising when they vote and legislate as if they're completely divorced from reality.

The power of redistribution is what really corrupts every aspect of the system, including the electorate.

I guess this is a political debate, but I believe the problem is the lack of remedy on the part of the individual to both find out and prosecute abuses by the establishment (government or corporations). This is why I believe in absurd levels of disclosure and scrutiny for both.

I don't think redistribution is the problem, more the lack of accountability about how it's done.

And curtailing political speech will only exacerbate this problem, as the entire system is necessarily structured so as to perpetuate the status quo.

I would like political advertisement, lobbying (including meetings, being taken out to dinner etc) and donations basically eliminated. A small public campaigning allowance could substitute.

But the public, media and companies could still broadcast and write anything they want that's not overt advertisement. And the public are then free to tune into/buy or avoid that message, something that is not possible with advertising.