Musings:
The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter 17). He has:
Sent an “armada” to Iran in order to “protect” the protesters of the Ayatollah Khameinei regime;
Created a “Board of Peace” which would replace the United Nations by the members of the Trump family, making him essentially the “King of the World”;
Threatened to levy a 100% tariff on Canada if it made a trade deal with China;
Belittled the NATO Troops who had served in Afghanistan;
Announced a raise in tariffs on certain South Korean goods because Seoul has not enacted trade agreements that were passed last summer;
Threatened to “take over” the election of 2028 in order to put his own people in office;
Ordered his administration to investigate the election of 2020 which he said was “stolen” from him;
Considered “nationalizing” state elections because, he said, states are merely agents of the Federal government;
Posted a revised map of the United States which included Greenland, Canada, and Venezuela;
Described himself as the “Acting President of Venezuela”;
Said that he would accept the results of the 2026 mid-term election only if it was “honest,” i.e. the GOP retained its majorities; and
Signed a proclamation which reinstated commercial fishing in protected waters in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.
•Presidential campaigns have not changed much since George Washington, the first president under the U.S. Constitution, left office and opened it to whoever wanted the job. And didn’t he warn us about factionalism in the choosing of his successor?
By and large, down through the ages, political campaigns have been down and dirty affairs – often bordering on slander, focusing upon a candidate’s personality instead of his take on the issues of the day. And the candidates – and their supporters – were not above bribery in order to gain votes; they spent as much money as they could afford either to publicize their candidacy and/or bribe would-be voters.
What has happened in recent times is that bribery has evolved into a system of ad-creations on a massive scale in order to overwhelm the senses of potential voters and persuade them that one candidate or another was the “real deal.” With each election cycle, the amount of money spent has increased almost exponentially (the current figure has tickled the $1 billion mark). And nobody blinks an eyelid, don’t you know?
The idea, of course, is that, if you outspend your opponent, you will win whatever position you desire. Unfortunately, in altogether too many cases, this is too true. With the advent of political action committees (PAC’s) and “Super-PAC’s,” donors with “deep pockets” are able to provide unlimited amounts of cash; it’s as if they are actually buying an election. Naturally, the successful candidate will listen more to the big money than to his/her would-be constituents. This state of affairs defeats the purpose of a democratic form of government. And do the deep pockets care? Heh.
Attempts have been made in recent times to curb the worst aspects of campaign financing. Most have been defeated by politicians who prefer the status quo; the rest have been watered down to the point where they are useless. The peak of hypocrisy was the U.S. Supreme Court’s handing down the ruling in Citizens United, whereby PACs and Super PACs were magically transformed into “persons”; their donations were then misconceived as free speech and therefore could not be regulated under the First Amendment to the Constitution. Overturning this ruling will require a constitutional amendment, but no run-of-the-mill politician is likely to get on board that train. Nevertheless.…
The Coddington Agenda recommends the following:
- Ban all contributions from PACs and Super-PACs.
- Limit individual contributions to $100.
- Ban all fun-raising activities until six months before an election.
- Require all candidates to accept public financing, the amount not to exceed the annual salary of the office they seek. Any excess spending will result in a proportional reduction of the public funding.
- Require all candidates to file an account of all campaign expenditures no later than 60 days following the election and to return any unused portion to the U.S. Treasury.
- Require all broadcast media to provide every declared candidate up to two hours per week of free airtime during the campaign as part of their public-service obligation.
Democracy on a platter, don’t you know?
Just a thought.