Time to End the Presidential Funding Tax Checkoff?

I hear politicians and pundits complaining endlessly about the corrupting influence of money in politics and yet all anyone can seem to do is come up with some other law or rule governing disclosure, which can be worked around. I don't agree with Obama on many things but his disagreement with the Supreme Court regarding corporte entities was spot on. What was disingenuous about this is that he was attacking those whom he considers contribute and inordinate amount of money to Republican causes while ignoring unions and others who contribute to Democrats, so I'm not so sure his stand was principled. If money is the corrupting influence, then why not take the obvious step of removing it from the process by full public financing? The airwaves are public property leased to broadcasters so why can't we ensure that they are forced to give back by "donating" equal airtime to political ads from all competitors. I'm not sure how much complete and true public financing would cost, but I think that most Americans would agree that even 5 billion a year would be a small price to pay to get our democracy back. I think that the argument that denying a corporation or special interest the right to contribute to a candidate of their choice robs them of free speech rights is pure hogwash. What is undeniably true, though, is that those who contribute more to a campaign have more access to candidates than I do, and that stifles my right to be heard. If everyone is mandated to contribute $10 annually to a centralized campaign fund (or whatever that figure might be) then no one is being "robbed" of their first amendment rights to be heard. If this is truly unconstutional, then again, I think a majority of Americans would support an amendment to the Constitution. The sad thing is that I literally hear no one on any major stage talking about this and it is sad. The only groups that I think would tackle this issue are the Tea Party and Libertarians. While I applaud the Tea Party for their stance on fiscal matters, their laudable goals would be much more easily achieved without fighting back against the money contributed by the unions, defense contractors, Kochs, and Soros's of the world.

Mike of PA 12:40AM April 20, 2011