by Drew Price

Created on: July 19, 2007   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

A government that is able to fund candidates can essentially use taxpayer money to choose it's own officers. This, to me, seems to be not only unconditional, but unethical. Where is the democracy in a government that is able to select its own officials.

The government has its hand in every citizens pocket to fund various programs and services that "the people" may, or may not, approve. The people can only influence where this money is spent by voting. By allowing people's hard earned money to be spent on campaigning, I think we are taking away from more deserving institutions such as education, health care, social security, the environment, and the economy in general.

In short, let's leave raising money for campaigns up to the candidate and those that choose to support them while keeping tax dollars where they belong - funding programs that benefit the nation as a whole rather than political parties, or certain special interest groups. Politics will always be a complicated mess where few people are actually as they seem. I would be hesitant to allow any of my money to directly help any politician on his way to the top. I believe that a deserving candidate would be able to gain enough support through his ability to express his stances on important issues. For his willingness to reach out to the people and take the time to make himself and his position known. A great candidate would not require mountains of money, because if they are truly great they will have no trouble finding volunteers to donate their time and efforts to help differ the cost of an election.

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