Back to Basics

Corruption in government – it starts with the election process.  Special interest groups, labor unions, big pharma, all making campaign contributions supporting the candidate that is going to give them the back room deals they are after.  Why do you think this country is in this much trouble!  They have all basically bought and paid for the candidate of choice, the one who is looking out for their special interests instead of the interests of the American people.  The corruption needs to stop now, and reform needs to start with the funding of political campaigns.

The democrats seem to want to make everything equal – take from the rich and give to the poor.  So let’s start with campaign funding.  Let’s implement this equal for all system for the politicians, right from the start of the campaign process.  It’s time for a radical campaign funding change.

Instead of companies and individuals supporting one candidate over another, campaign contributions would be made to a government fund for each elected position.  There would be one fund for the president, one for each state senator race, one for each representative of the house race.  All campaign monies would go into this fund and NO OTHER funding for campaigns would be permitted.  The money from these funds would then be divided equally to all candidates running for that position, whether it be two or more.  Everyone would have an equal opportunity in campaigning for the desired position.

How the campaign spends this money would be up to them, but they would have to limit spending to only the money received from the fund.  It would be restricted, of course, to legal activities only.  At the end of the campaign a full disclosure of the money would be required within a specific timeframe and an audit would be completed on the final campaign funds.  Any money remaining from the election would be returned to the fund for the next elections.  There could be no “outstanding balance due” at the end of the campaign.

A radical move, but the problems we see in the government today are because every special interest group and every company has their own agenda and they have all made deals with the politicians to get what they want.  They donate and expect to receive benefits in return – and they don’t just mean a thank you letter.  The government is no longer run by the people, for the people.  It is being run by special interests and big business.  This has got to stop!  Start the reform where the corruption begins – the campaign funding.  Equal opportunity for everyone.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is one of the rights we must hang on to.  Without those basic freedoms the country is in grave trouble.  You may not like or agree with someone, but that does not give you the right to take away their freedom to speak.

Millions of people watch Glenn Beck.  You may agree with him today and disagree with him tomorrow.  You may watch his show and think he is great – or you may think he is some kind of nut.  Either way, he has a right to speak his mind and you have a right to agree or disagree.

Although I do not watch the Glenn Beck show as I do not have cable TV, I watched a clip of the video that is raising such a controversy.  Glenn was stating his opinion of the president and how he handled the situation involving a friend of his and the police department.  His statements only reflected what many people have been thinking and they came to those conclusions by actions and statements made by the president himself!  Glenn’s statements made on that show were less offensive than Nancy Pelosi calling all republicans who oppose the health care bill Nazis!  But because Glenn is white and his comments are against an African-American, making these comments it is not acceptable.  After all, how can a black man be racist!

The group putting pressure on removing the advertising is totally a racist group.  They represent only the African-American population.  Yet companies cower to their Chicago style tactics.  How stupid can these companies get?  The show is one of the top rated TV shows and because some racist organization coerced them they are removing advertising from the Glenn Beck show.

Where does this stop?  Any company that pulled their advertising from the Glenn Beck show is not supporting our 1^st amendment rights.  Maybe we should ban them and any station or television show that supports their disrespect for our constitution!

No one forces you to watch television and you have the choice which shows you choose to watch.  Starting censorship in television is a very dangerous road to travel.  No organization should be allowed to have the power to encourage censorship.  No company should allow these same organizations to dictate where to advertise.  One day they may all find themselves on the wrong side of a censorship issue.

Anyone with any brains knows that the ads shown during a television show do not necessarily represent the views of those companies whose products are being advertised.  Do we need to have a disclaimer run with every ad making that obvious statement?  Is it wrong for them to want to get their advertising message out to as many people as possible?

Your support of the ban is an indication to the American people that you are involved in special interest groups.  If you don’t have the balls to stand up to them, then maybe the product you are toting or the company you represent isn’t one the people should be supporting.  Maybe it’s a good thing you removed your advertising so we aren’t exposed to it.  If we don’t see it, we won’t buy it!  Maybe you actually did us a favor.  For every person that may object to the show, there are just as many, if not more, that support it.  Start standing up for our 1^st amendment rights – otherwise you may find your company’s advertising being censored one day from some other special interest group.