Money and Politics

The headline was “Bernie Raises 25.3 Million in 3rd Quarter” which is kind of awesome because it means he’s raised more money than any other Democratic candidate, and he did it without any support from billionaires, which is something Warren and Biden could never say.
The comment that raised my ire was just “Why is it always about the money?” I had composed several scathing responses in my head, and typed a couple of them out, before thinking “Wait a minute. The guy has a real point. Why is it always about the money?”
It’s a dangerous game for us to play because, even though Bernie has millions of people who will give him money, our resources are limited. Even one of Biden’s or Warren’s supporters could match and top that number, all by themselves, and no doubt will as we get closer. Corporations spend millions to support candidates who will help them to make huge profits while they rape the environment or screw sick people out of their live savings, but that’s chump change to them. They will spend billions to defeat Bernie, if they have to.
That money gets spent on TV ads, which dull the mind, and on yard signs and bumper stickers, which raise animosity in America’s neighborhoods and increase road rage, but doesn’t do much to solve the problem.
How can we solve this problem? Here’s my suggestion:
Starting in about May of any election year, because this permanent election cycle is ridiculous, start having auditions. Start like the talent shows, take all comers. Vernon Supreme gets an interview. Your crazy racist neighbor gets an interview, if they want.
The initial interview asks them a few questions, like “What is the Bill of Rights?” and “How do you spell hamburger?”, and make them read the questions off cue cards or a teleprompter. This is just to make sure they can read.
In the second round, a week later, when we’re down to a few thousand candidates, they start getting questions about ‘Have you ever committed a felony?’ and ‘How important is oxygen?’
After about 4 or 5 weeks in, when you’re down to a few hundred candidates, you can get down to some serious debate, and each week could be a different topic. The environment, the economy, health care, education, foreign policy, abortion, gun control, gay rights, marijuana, Israel, the police, corruption, etc…
This could be a totally non-partisan format. If the networks don’t want to host it, it could be done on-line.
Then, in about September or October, a winner is announced. That person would be on the ballot in November, against whatever corporate shills the Democrats and the Republicans want to nominate.
And the people would have a choice.