signatures to get on the ballot, then starting at a specific date, all candidates have access to a fixed amount of money to run their campaigns. No private money allowed, no contributions from other sources, no PACs criticizing politicians on behalf of another candidate. A level playing field is created for everyone to express their views and ideas on how to best govern.
TV and radio stations should offer more ‘real’ debate time for candidates to discuss the issues. Candidates should have their name removed from the ballot if they are outright caught misrepresenting facts during these public discussions. It’s a violation of the public trust and they are running on public money.
So if we had such a process in place, then we would hopefully elect someone that has no alligences to a special group or corporation. But how do we keep their loyalty once they are in office? They should abstain from voting or introduing legislation that would directly benefit a family member, business partner or the employer of a family member – this is a conflict of interest.
These are all tractable actions, there could be some gray areas, but still in the realm of possibility. While there are likely many more ways to corrupt a politician once they are in office, the one that I am currently struggling with is how to stop the influence of future employment by a corporation. We cannot prevent politicians from taking a job after they leave office, but since they will likely vote on legislation that could help a specific company and later that politician might be employed by that same company when they leave office. Were promises made in exchange for a vote while that politician was in office? Did that corporation simply feel that the politician understood the company’s needs and the ex-politician could add substantial value to its team after the fact?
I have yet to hear a resolution to this portion of the corrupting influence corporations can have on congress. Simply creating laws stating that someone leaving office cannot work for a company for a number of years is not enough in my mind. The sums of money often thrown at ex-politicians is far too great, such that it is well worth the wait. What do you think would be a fix to this portion of the problem?
