January 04, 2012 11:54 AM UTC

Getting Money Out of Politics

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• by: DanleySteel

Here’s a letter (okay, an email) I sent to Mike Foote’s campaign today:

Dear Mike Foote,

I’m suggesting a New Year’s resolution for you. For the New Year, why don’t you start turning down special interest campaign contributions?

Congress and state legislatures are running at record low approval ratings. Funding your campaign from individual contributions instead of corporations, unions, and other interest groups would help improve how the people think of you, and help prove you want to be a voice and representative for people–not PACs and moneyed intersets.

If you do this, I will feel a lot better about supporting you with my time and money. I know I’m not the only voter you need to win over, but for what it’s worth, I want you to know that my full support depends on knowing you are not accepting special interest money. Although I think you’ll be a decent representative either way, I want to use my influence, small or big, to support the candidates who put themselves on the line to improve our broken system.

Sincerely,

DanleySteel

(I plagiarized most of this from CleanSlateNow.org, Ken Gordon’s group trying to reduce the influence of money in politics. I sent a few other candidates similar emails. Of course, the actual emails use my real name, not my screen name.)

Now, what I’m wondering is this: aside from direct letters from Average Joes (because we all know that’s all it takes to persuade a politician to turn down money… I’m not cynical. Heh.)–aside from letters, what’s the best chance at actually seeing a meaningful decrease in the extent to which money dominates politics?

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