house Bill H.R. 20
Would a Public Campaign Finance System for House Candidates Empower Ordinary Citizens?
Argument in favor
This public campaign finance system would give average citizens an incentive to make small contributions to political candidates by offering 6-to-1 matching for small donations and weaken powerful organizations that try to tip the scales in House elections.
04/22/2016
"In the year 2016, with a political campaign finance system that is corrupt and increasingly controlled by billionaires and special interests, I fear very much that, in fact, government of the people, by the people, and for the people is beginning to perish in the United States of America. We cannot allow that to happen." [berniesanders.com]
04/22/2016
"We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families and hidden interests can’t bankroll our elections.” [prospect.org]
01/10/2016
Sure, as long as you bar unions from funneling millions into the parties and having their members vote for specific parties.
Argument opposed
There is no reason to believe that this public campaign finance system would actually be used by House candidates. They have need to raise as much money as possible, and relying on this system’s donation matching may leave them underfunded.
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06/25/2015
Unless you are also going to eliminate Unions from contributing millions of dollars, what's the point... And why limit it to Federal elections? The same forces are at play in State and Local elections.
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11/07/2016
Not in the form of this bill, no. Give Voters instead a $5,000 voucher which can only be transferred to a Candidate's campaign and You will dilute the influence of other money sources. Eventually, seeking other money sources would be not worth the effort for Candidates and those sources would disappear because Nobody would be accepting the money. No additional restrictions on speech nor on donations nor association would be needed.
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04/18/2016
Won't help any the voters don't matter to politicians. First they create super delegates to ensure the party favorite wins. Then they go with voteless primaries/caucuses to do the same thing. Democracy is dead.
"In the year 2016, with a political campaign finance system that is corrupt and increasingly controlled by billionaires and special interests, I fear very much that, in fact, government of the people, by the people, and for the people is beginning to perish in the United States of America. We cannot allow that to happen." [berniesanders.com]
Unless you are also going to eliminate Unions from contributing millions of dollars, what's the point... And why limit it to Federal elections? The same forces are at play in State and Local elections.
"We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families and hidden interests can’t bankroll our elections.” [prospect.org]
Can we really expect a change as long as we keep sending the same reps back to DC every year?
Sure, as long as you bar unions from funneling millions into the parties and having their members vote for specific parties.
Due to money from dark interests, our political structures are becoming more extreme and more subversive with each passing year. We are now a corpocracy, not a democracy and "we the people" mean little to those that govern us. Corporations and money are not people. It's time to get rid of the "big money" loophole that has adversely influenced our laws and politicians,
Big corporations shouldn't be treated as a person in terms of campaign financing. Make the voices of regular citizens count, and not have the interests of big oil companies, etc.
Not in the form of this bill, no. Give Voters instead a $5,000 voucher which can only be transferred to a Candidate's campaign and You will dilute the influence of other money sources. Eventually, seeking other money sources would be not worth the effort for Candidates and those sources would disappear because Nobody would be accepting the money. No additional restrictions on speech nor on donations nor association would be needed.
The lobbyists and most of the politicians will hate this one. They like a government slanted in their favor. It rewards their greed. But that's not how the government is supposed to work!
A true democracy is reliant upon each vote counting equally, with fair and equal representation of issues prior to elections
Look at the Constitution. Look at the Declaration of Independence. Do we need a further explanation?
Won't help any the voters don't matter to politicians. First they create super delegates to ensure the party favorite wins. Then they go with voteless primaries/caucuses to do the same thing. Democracy is dead.
The American citizen should have as much say as a corporation. Education and transparency are key to our understanding and ability to vote.
The idea is right but no one will choose this system! Opting into a small donor olny system that has a matching cap? Yeah right.
This bill goes about reform backwards. It injects more money into politics -- the goal should be to take money out. One good step would be to prohibit foreign entities from contributing to all aspects of races, having a beneficial side effect of discouraging corporate tax flight.
We need to end special interest from unduly influencing government.
We live Ina corporatocracy not a democracy of public officials are taking money from special interests. It shouldn't cost an exuberant amount of money to run for an office. A public official should have less bias, to do so they should not accept campaign contributions from companies.