Electoral
Integrity and Transparency in Washington
The United States electoral system has become a breeding ground for corruption and corporate interest. There are immediate legislative measures that should be taken to protect the American People from being refused righteous and honorable representation.
Campaign Finance
With the number of politicians in Washington who have never held a job outside of elected positions who are worth millions of dollars it begs the question, how? Lobbyist and corporate donors have created an environment of corruption and it stops here.
Total Transparency
Every dollar that is contributed to a candidate is supposed to be accounted for, regulated, and reported. However, with the creation of political action campaigns (PAC) and other loophole organizations that collect and promote on behalf of candidates it is becoming more and more obvious that politicians are being bought and sold like commodities for corporate interest. I believe that these rules need to be significantly revised and restricted and that the American People should have absolute transparency about the candidate that they are voting for and who they owe favors to.
Equal Coverage
Not all candidates can afford the same level of coverage, especially ones who are running to try and reverse the amount of corporate influence in Washington. In fact, many candidates like myself who proudly stand on a platform for the restructuring of government and corporations roles in Washington are attacked, smoothered, and even threatened by these deep pocket interests. All candidates should receive an equal and fair amount of coverage to reach the constituents that we hope to represent and stiffling those efforts should have punitive consequences. No more election tampering and influence by corporate interest.
Term Limits
Our founding fathers never wanted politicians to be in office for a lifetime. Terms and restrictions on the number of sessions of government were designed to keep elected officials honest and accountable and limit their influence.
Term Consolidation
The federal government is made up of several branches, all with their own responsibilities, and with their own limitations on service. We have Representatives that get to Washington for a 2 year term that have to immediately start campaigning in order to win their next election which makes an ineffective congress. We have senators who get elected and never leave Washington becoming multi-millionaires. We even have a supreme court that only changes when someone steps down, or more often dies, in order to vacate a seat leaving our judiciary dramatically unrepresentative of our citizenry. It’s time to consolidate all elected terms to 4 years so that we can have the most accurate and accountable representation in all branched of our government.
Career Politics
Done. We are done. The American People are sick and tired of the career politicians who serve 10 terms in the same office and don’t produce any results. Consolidation of terms and immediate limitation of 2 terms in any lifetime for any 1 elected office. If you want to be a member of congress for more than 2 terms you will need to win 2 terms as a Representative and then 2 terms as a Senator. Rotating Supreme Court Justices who are actually representative of the times and our culture. Limiting cabinet positions and special appointments. Washington needs to be held to a higher standard and should accurately reflect our citizenry.
Corporate Lobbying
Corporations have no business in Washington. The elected officials are elected by the People and are there to do a job to protect our liberties and our safety and security. Massive campaign contributions and IOU’s need to stop.
Political Action
Companies have realized for a long time that this neat little loophole exists in campaign policy that allows them to develop organizations and committees to dump massive amounts of money into political campaigns. They do this, not because they believe in the candidates honor or integrity, but because they can use these donations as leverage to buy favors from representatives when they oppose or propose legislation. Nearly ALL the corporations who have made major financial contributions to political campaigns in the last 60 years have co-authored or plainly authored legislation that was then proposed by the candidate that they contributed to. This system of buying and selling politicians has to end and it has to end now.
Voting Restrictions
You can’t stop candidates from fundraising because let’s face it, campaigning is expensive and difficult. However, you can stop candidates from being able to vote on individual legislation that would immediately impact 1 or more of their donors. For example: Jim is running for office and he receives a $2,800 donation (the maximum single donor amount) from every member of the board of directors for a major car producer. Jim is thrilled and thanks the board for their support. His first session in congress, Jim gets a call from the board president and is told about a piece of legislation that would reduce restrictions on emissions which would allow the car producer to avoid a lawsuit for wrongful death and urged to vote in favor of it’s passage. In todays Washington Jim could march right into congress and vote Yay on this piece of legislation without having to consider it’s affect on his constituents or the American People as a whole. In the restricted Washington Jim would have to abstain from the vote, due to a conflict of interest.