Winning an election should not be about who can spend the most money. It must be about substance on the issues the voters are concerned about.
Therefore, spending must be restricted for those campaigning for political office. For example, presidential campaign spending could be capped at $10m.
Candidates are still allowed to fund raise up to the allowed cap.
There would need to be protections against the formation of external political groups willing to spend on behalf of a candidate. Therefore political ads by 3rd parties would need to be made illegal, requiring only the candidate themseles to advertise.
For Senate or Congressional seat races only money from that state would be allowed, no cross-state donations.
This would force each candidate to be very strategic about where and how they spend their campaign dollars.
There would need to be full accounting of the political candidates spending to ensure compliance.
I agree with this proposal but would strengthen it further.
No PAC’s or like organizations.
For Senate or Congressional seat races only money from that state would be allowed, no cross-state donations.
After the elections and all challenges complete any excess funds from each candidate would be turned to a federal election fund and not out of taxes.
How do you accomplish a system like this without prohibiting individual citizens from supporting their candidate of choice and thus stifling their 1st Amendment rights?
Thats a good question. 1st amendment is extremely important.
Would this be considered an issue of spending, rather than speech? Goverment does have precident banning purchasing of certain goods and services. I cannot buy sex or machine guns. Could we similarly establish a rule against buying political advertisements without stepping on someone’s right to free speech?
Agree that campaign spending must be capped, commensurate with the position. Presidential campaign would be the highest, of course, but a billion dollars to pay off celebrity endorsements is obscene. If they won’t endorse for free, then it’s nothing but a bribe for a lie. Capping spending would force them to think about how they’re spending every dollar, rather than burning it wastefully like Kakamala did. The lunacy has to stop. Once that cap has been reached, those who want to support their candidates can pay to put up their own billboards, ads, video endorsements, etc. Time to stop the madness and get creative with expressing our support.