In the wake of the Abramoff scandal, Congress is racing to
enact lobbying reform measures. But lobbying reform alone cannot
fix our broken democracy. Again and again, we see how financing
elections with private money has led to corruption and lack of
public confidence in the Congress.
There is a solution to the problem of influence peddling in
Washington. The time has come to implement voluntary public
funding of all federal elections.
If Congress spent Just $6 per citizen per year to publicly
fund federal elections, candidates would be able to spend more
time communicating with voters instead of begging for campaign
donations. And once elected, instead of having to worry about
financing their next campaign, our leaders would be free to focus
on our nation's challenges. Public financing of campaigns would
also mean that more of our most able leaders would run for
federal office, because financing a campaign wouldn't be such a
daunting obstacle.
As citizens we can complain about the corrosive influence of
our election finance system, or we can do something about it.
Help make public financing of campaigns happen in all elections
by adding your name to our petition.
Dear Representative,
I am writing to ask you to support real campaign reform that moves beyond just lobbying reform by supporting public financing of elections.
The way we finance our elections today has led to extraordinary corruption, and incremental reforms cannot stop the peddling of access and influence in Washington. The time has come to drastically change how we elect our leaders, and the solution we need is public funding of federal elections.
Public funding is already working at the state level in Arizona and Maine and was just passed by the Connecticut legislature. With public funding of federal elections, our leaders can focus on our country's significant and immediate problems rather than wasting far too much of their time raising money for their next election. And, more able leaders will be able to run for office -- not just millionaires or those with access to big money.
The cost to make public funding of federal elections a reality comes out to just $6 per citizen, for a total of $1.8 billion a year -- just a fraction of the wasted federal expenditures given as rewards to special interests and distributed through "pork barrel" spending every year.
I urge you to support public funding of federal elections. Our democracy depends on it! And just imagine, with public funding you'll never have to make those degrading calls to donors ever again.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]
