http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/06/24/does-money-buy-elections/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:40:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/06/24/does-money-buy-elections/#comment-21711 Erich Vieth Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:44:14 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2778#comment-21711 “We don’t have a democracy. We have an auction.” I caught this quote <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/published-editorials/2008/07/thursday-editorial-start-the-bidding/" rel="nofollow">at one of Eddie Roth's posts. </a> “We don’t have a democracy. We have an auction.” I caught this quote at one of Eddie Roth’s posts.

]]> http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/06/24/does-money-buy-elections/#comment-20364 Matt Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:29:33 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2778#comment-20364 Thanks for the post! We were a bit surprised ourselves after doing the research. Making sure qualified candidates have enough to be heard is a powerful idea, and one that's overdue. Thanks for the post! We were a bit surprised ourselves after doing the research. Making sure qualified candidates have enough to be heard is a powerful idea, and one that’s overdue.

]]> http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/06/24/does-money-buy-elections/#comment-20058 Niklaus Pfirsig Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:10:38 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2778#comment-20058 I have advocated the idea of tying the income of elected officials directly to the mean disposable income of their constituency. Here is the basic idea: When someone is elected, all income from private, and public sources, including bribes, the value of gifts, and any thing else is tabulated on a weekly basis. Failure for the official to report income would mean jail time for the politician. The average disposable income of the people represented, would also be tracked with oversite, on a weekly basis. Any income above the mean for the constituents would be taken as tax revenue. Perks would also be severely restricted. The idea is to force the elected law makers to live within the same standards of the people they represent, so by improving the financial well being of the dconstituency, they make themselves better off. I have advocated the idea of tying the income of elected officials directly to the mean disposable income of their constituency.
Here is the basic idea:
When someone is elected, all income from private, and public sources, including bribes, the value of gifts, and any thing else is tabulated on a weekly basis. Failure for the official to report income would mean jail time for the politician. The average disposable income of the people represented, would also be tracked with oversite, on a weekly basis. Any income above the mean for the constituents would be taken as tax revenue.
Perks would also be severely restricted.
The idea is to force the elected law makers to live within the same standards of the people they represent, so by improving the financial well being of the dconstituency, they make themselves better off.

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