Isn't this illegal?

[Boozy]

Then cam corporate contributions - but you can easily get around those.

If every member of a board of directors inidividually decides they want to support Party X, so be it. That is their right as citizens.

But it has to be their own money. Those are the laws.

They can only "easily get around those" if they're willing to break the law, and most people are reluctant to do so when the risks are so high (prison) and the benefits (another mere five grand in the pocket of a politician who might increase your stock price) are so low.

We don't have major issues in Canada with corporate donors buying public policy.

[infinitemonkies]

Hell no! I want the opposite! I want to see exactly where people are getting their money. I consider it a 100% bribe when a company or person contributes a large amount of money towards someone's campaigh just to have that person promote laws that would benefit the donator!

My intention was that if all contributions are anonymous, then no contributor would be able to use their contribution as leverage to get political favors from the electee. Though I admit it wouldn't work out that way in real life anyway.



I had an idea a couple years ago, and the more I think about it, the more I like it:
What if we dropped elections and just selected public officials from the population the same way as a jury?
Let's say each congressional district picks 100 names at random from the tax rolls, and filter through some qualifiers/disqualifiers (high school diploma/GED, convicted felon, etc) Take the first guy on the list who wants the job, give him a 3 month crash course on governing, and put him in office.
Government of, for and by the people.

Or, at least use this system to determine candidates. Take 6 names, let the public vote on which they want after a series of debates.

[Rapscallion]

To determine candidates, sure. To determine winners, you do realise that there are people less suited for office than politicians, right? Quite a number of tales on CS.com bear this out.

Rapscallion

[draggar]

But it has to be their own money. Those are the laws.

They can only "easily get around those" if they're willing to break the law, and most people are reluctant to do so when the risks are so high (prison) and the benefits (another mere five grand in the pocket of a politician who might increase your stock price) are so low.

Each board member gets a "bonus" - this is not illegal in any way.

They each use the "bonus" to "donate" to their candidate's campaign. This is also perfectly legal.

[jackfaire]

Isn't that how it is now? How many current middle / lower class people are in the US Congress? I think it's somewhere around zero. This is how the system is now.

Are you basing that on them or their parents?

Politicians tend to be people that went to college with politics in mind much like any other job field. Others work their way up from local government to larger government and the higher up the government office the more money it pays and thus the higher their income level.

You will never see a lower class person in national office because once your making over a certain level of income your no longer lower class. I could run for office being a lower class person and keep running for higher offices until one day running for President by the time I got there I could no longer be considered lower class even if that is where I started.

Middle class same way you could be middle class run for congress and then the instant your in boom your now upper class because of how much money your making and everyone forgets you have humble roots.

[ExiledV20]

So why is it when a company gives money to someone running for congress, (and it's obvious the company does this to help promote theiragendas), it's called a campaign contribution?.

The decision of SCOTUS in Citizens United states that campaign contributions are free speech and so therefore, it's not a bribe.