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The only foreseeable problem with the government funding presidential campaigns is that it would be very tough to decide who qualifies to receive the money. I would be in favor of such a policy as long as the rules were fair for selecting which candidates would benefit from the program. Perhaps each legitimate political party with a membership of a certain number of people (maybe a million) could put up one candidate for election and the government would sponsor all of the debates between them and equal TV time for them all.

Money has become such an important factor in getting elected that literally only the richest people in the country have any prayer of becoming office holders. Certainly, this is unfair, corrupt, and does not provide Americans with elected officials that truly represent their interests. There must be some rules setup that will increase the chances of a middle-class candidate being chosen.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Constitution does not allow for controlling individual's and businesses' ability to contribute money to candidates that they think will represent them well in government. The problem, of course, is that the people and companies able to contribute the most to candidates are effectively choosing the entire country's leadership based on who they think will be good for THEM, not the country as a whole. The government could step in to effectively increase the level of voice that middle class and impoverished Americans have in the choosing of their representatives in government by providing a 'welfare system' of sorts that provides for at least a minimal amount of exposure and access to public airwaves for candidates that are unable to foot the expensive bill.

The only people who could conceivably be against such a policy are the rich: those who benefit most from the current structure of the system. The amount of money required for such a program would be minuscule compared to huge government entitlement programs like social security, Medicare and Medicaid, and even farm subsidies. Such a program could even be setup with a cap of 10 or 15 million dollars and then evenly distributed among qualifying candidates to ensure that it would not become a strain on American tax payers. The cost of the program would be well worth the increase in voice of non-rich Americans and worth allowing a strong candidate, who may not have extensive financial backing, to come to the attention of the American population as a whole.

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