Jessica lachlan
What issues do the financing of the US elections raise for democracy? (15)
Unless you are an incumbent or a wife of an ex president it is very expensive to
get your name recognized by the public. The money comes from many different
sources including public finance coming from businesses, donations from
lobbyists and donations from voters. By April in the 2008 presidential election
campaign, McCain had raised $100.4 million against Obamas $272.1 million and
therefore struggled to maintain his popularity until November. This shows that
essentially the candidate with the most funding will be able to remain in the
public eye more and this is not very democratic because money should not be the
deciding factor, it should be the best presidential qualities that the candidate
possesses.
Another issue is that during the election campaign which if you include the
invisible primaries is a very long time, the candidates are not working and are
therefore not earning an income. So you have to be rich to start off with to run
for president so you can still support your family without an income from a job.
Mitt Romney for example, is co founder of Bain Capital and has a net worth of
$250 million. Romney used some of his private money to help fund his
campaigns in 2008. This is very undemocratic because it shows that to be
successful in running for presidency you have to be very rich to start off with
even using there own money to their political advantage.
With elections being so expensive it undermines the third party because they do
not have enough money to compete with the democrats and republicans.
Independents don’t have large cooperation’s supporting them and donating to
them like the republicans have. Independents cannot afford to make phone calls
to the voters or put up a TV commercial like the half an hour long one Obama did.
This is not very democratic because this constantly allows just the 2 mainstream
parties to always win because they have lots of money to fund their campaigns.
Just how much money is donated to the parties is poorly regulated. In 2012 the
legal campaign limit was $2500 for the primary and a further $2500 for the
general election. Regulating this campaign finance as some of the laws contradict
those outlined in the constitution. This poor regulation is not very democratic
because it allows sums of money to be donated to campaigns under the radar
and can give arties an illegal political advantage.
What issues do the financing of the US elections raise for democracy? (15)
Unless you are an incumbent or a wife of an ex president it is very expensive to
get your name recognized by the public. The money comes from many different
sources including public finance coming from businesses, donations from
lobbyists and donations from voters. By April in the 2008 presidential election
campaign, McCain had raised $100.4 million against Obamas $272.1 million and
therefore struggled to maintain his popularity until November. This shows that
essentially the candidate with the most funding will be able to remain in the
public eye more and this is not very democratic because money should not be the
deciding factor, it should be the best presidential qualities that the candidate
possesses.
Another issue is that during the election campaign which if you include the
invisible primaries is a very long time, the candidates are not working and are
therefore not earning an income. So you have to be rich to start off with to run
for president so you can still support your family without an income from a job.
Mitt Romney for example, is co founder of Bain Capital and has a net worth of
$250 million. Romney used some of his private money to help fund his
campaigns in 2008. This is very undemocratic because it shows that to be
successful in running for presidency you have to be very rich to start off with
even using there own money to their political advantage.
With elections being so expensive it undermines the third party because they do
not have enough money to compete with the democrats and republicans.
Independents don’t have large cooperation’s supporting them and donating to
them like the republicans have. Independents cannot afford to make phone calls
to the voters or put up a TV commercial like the half an hour long one Obama did.
This is not very democratic because this constantly allows just the 2 mainstream
parties to always win because they have lots of money to fund their campaigns.
Just how much money is donated to the parties is poorly regulated. In 2012 the
legal campaign limit was $2500 for the primary and a further $2500 for the
general election. Regulating this campaign finance as some of the laws contradict
those outlined in the constitution. This poor regulation is not very democratic
because it allows sums of money to be donated to campaigns under the radar
and can give arties an illegal political advantage.
