Here is an idea for a master fix, that enables many other fixes: a radical change in how we finance both political campaigns and political lobbying.
The ONLY source for funding political campaigns and lobbying would be as follows:
Each citizen would get a $120 a year grant from the US Treasury that would go into a special bank account operated by the Treasury. The citizen holder of such funds could distribute them either to candidates or issue advocates (lobbyists) or to intermediaries who would aggregate funds and then distribute. Examples of aggregators could include the current and startup political parties and issue advocates like Sierra Club and the
NRA.
While some decry "money in politics" I think that's a mistake. Money is useful because it's continuous in both quantity and time so that the flow of political money provides a real-time way to gain leverage from the popularity of one's political or issue program.
It's BIG Money that is the problem. Where those with great financial means have much louder voices than those without. Under this program, every citizen from a homeless person to zillionaires would have the
same ability to impact the political process via money.
No longer would politics be an extension of the world of Finance and Big Business but could return to its natural role as a countervailing force that represents the "will of the people".
