or maybe we all need to pull our heads out of our asses and learn how to independently research candidates. if our populace was educated, this wouldn't matter.
step 1: turn your tv off. just turn it off. smash it with a sledgehammer. just get rid of it.
VoxynOfCeadus
Everyone you get to vote for is a winner of the contributions war. Pay attention all you want to who you vote for, it doesn't change the fact that one of them will win and the only reason you get to vote for them is because they got enough contributions to pay for their spot. So naive. Turn off the tv, burn the newspaper, don't use the internet. Who are you going to vote for? The people on the ballots. How did they get on the ballots? They paid to be on the ballots with contributions. John Doe could be the most brilliant person to ever live with plans to lead the country to utopia. But if he's not friends with the corporations and other major lobbyists, he will never be on the ballot. You don't get to vote on that.
deathtokoalas
you need to use the internet. it's not like those other types of media.
you're exaggerating. but, if you weren't, you could write candidates in. the situation you're describing is a consequence of voter ignorance and will not be solved by limiting campaign contributions. not only is it a non-problem, the non-solution will not be effective.
the only solution is a more engaged populace.
VoxynOfCeadus
It will level the playing field and allow for a more engaged populace. It will make this rigged system become so obvious that they have to give us real options. As it is, there are no options for real candidates.
deathtokoalas
these rulings are more about eliminating "market restrictions" in corporations competing with each other. we don't need a "level playing field". that's fascistic thinking, that reduces people to automatons that can be programmed by media.
"it's not fair! only the big corporations get to brainwash people!"
no. a free society is one where people act independently of media, not one where your preferred media brainwashing is dominant.
in canada, we have actually banned corporate donations entirely and it hasn't made any difference. people still vote for the petro-state. if anything, it's made things worse by facilitating the flow of money through back room channels. where we used to have two of three parties that supported nationalization of the oil industry, we now have three parties invested in the petrostate. the reason is people care more about low oil prices than they do about climate change. it's rooted in engagement...