Why should we have to buy good government even after elections?

Ah, you made the mistake of giving at some point. Have them remove you from their lists.

Well, I’m kind of interested in the rhetoric. But again, why should this happen at all?

Because winning elections costs money. I personally would rather that it be your money (an individual’s) rather than a lobbyist’s or a corporation’s.

It is in it’s own way exactly that, a money war as, directly or not and in many ways, money buys votes.

You must be really naive to assume otherwise.
I mean, this is America; it’s been a money war for quite a while.

Elections are purchased with advertising and promotion of a party’s or candidates ideas and promises. One party gets huge support from industries that pollute the environment, sell harmful or dangerous produces like tobacco, weapons of mass destruction and other instruments of violence and death, or industries that resist changes to cleaner and safer energy sources because they have so much invested in dangerous, dirty and decreasingly available energy sources.

These corporations want to have their party and candidates to protect their interests rather than those of the public or the country as a whole. Corrupt financial industries also look for champions in government who will fight regulation to regulate their profitable but harmful practices. Drug companies and Health insurance companies want their profitable practices to continue without legislation that would protect the public from corrupt practices and overpriced drugs.

Another party that wants to serve the needs of the public and individuals and who wants to stop old harmful and wasteful practices of the past needs the support of individuals and groups committed to better ways of running government and safeguarding the soil, air and water on which people depend for their survival.

If you don’t want to contribute to a party that is more committed to meeting your needs than to pandering to polluters, swindlers and exploiters of the public, then you can sit by and watch the opportunity for meaningful change to slip by.

The last election almost cleared the way for such changes but the too narrow margin of victory in the Senate has allowed those who represent the party that lost the last election to corrupt the political process and undermine all efforts to fulfil the platform the majority of Americans supported and still want and need.

Apathy and an unwillingness to continue to support what voters believe in could consolidate the position of the party of NO (the minority) so that progress will continue to be stymied by these corrupt politicians whose only solution to the problems facing the country is NO and no way.

Electing the people you want means putting your money where your heart and your mouth is. The alternative is too harmful to be allowed to take place.

If you fail to support what you really want now, you may be stuck with the alternative during the critical years ahead. Can you afford to allow that?

@Dr_Lawrence Honestly, I’m not terribly fond of the Dems either. Unfortunately the only viable third-party Presidential candidate I can recall was largely self-funded.

Still, you are correct that it will take money to fight the GOP.However, I don’t call a 60–40 Senate a “narrow margin”; I think it’s the widest margin either party has had in quite a while, and also a referendum showing that the voters do not like what the GOP has been doing for the last few years.

Ummmm – because we don’t live in a perfect world. Where have you been all your political life?

I stand rebuked, and I deserve it. In fact I donate a lot of money to the party and I understand that I have to. I must have been having a moment of third-gradeness. Thanks all.

@susanc It was a good opportunity to remind people that if people want the kind of government they believe in, they must be prepared to contribute either time or money or both. Citizenship come with certain duties and responsibilities. Remember Andrew Shepherd’s (the movie – American President) speech?

@Dr_Lawrence: I’ll netflix it.