Thursday, September 16, 2010

Corruption

One of my key themes for Democracy 2.0 is ending high-level corruption.  This story jumped out at me as particularly emblematic of my concerns.

A senior representative calls and leaves a voicemail for a lobbyist asking for campaign donations.  She cites things she has done for the lobbyist in the past and promises more goodies from the stimulus spending.  If you have ever had any illusions of the innocence of lobbying, this should open your eyes.

Our current election process is so dependent upon cash that it creates a race to the bottom for corruption.  Each candidate has to work to out-corrupt the others to get the cash that they need for their campaign.  This is exactly the opposite of the system we should want.

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