if only
if only
political parties demonstrated the sincerity of their support for various positions by contributing part of their campaign money to the actual doing of things they claim to support, rather than just paying for propaganda about them. Like those retail items who donate part of their profit to a particular cause. Or the tuna catchers who document being dolphin-safe because enough people actually will pay more for that to make it worth bothering to document it.
We already have local folks sponsoring the cleaning of various stretches of highway, and getting a nice proper highway dept sign in exchange, a fine arrangement all around, it seems to me. Maintenance in exchange for publicity. It's a fine system.
But what if the local party of your choice put a percentage of the money you give them to actually fixing and improving that dangerous spot of road between you and your job, instead of just renting a billboard next to it and infesting your entertainment with political advertisements? What if they sponsored, say, repairs to the sewage treatment plant, to demonstrate their worthiness for office? Personally pledged out of their re-election fund to keep open x number or well-maintained public rest rooms in high-traffic downtown areas, in addition to whatever they did with the public's money, as part of their campaign for mayor. To pay for repairs to the most dangerous local stretch of county road out of the campaign chest, when running for county commissioner. To co-sponsor improvements to the bridges between states when running for governor of neighboring states.
political parties demonstrated the sincerity of their support for various positions by contributing part of their campaign money to the actual doing of things they claim to support, rather than just paying for propaganda about them. Like those retail items who donate part of their profit to a particular cause. Or the tuna catchers who document being dolphin-safe because enough people actually will pay more for that to make it worth bothering to document it.
We already have local folks sponsoring the cleaning of various stretches of highway, and getting a nice proper highway dept sign in exchange, a fine arrangement all around, it seems to me. Maintenance in exchange for publicity. It's a fine system.
But what if the local party of your choice put a percentage of the money you give them to actually fixing and improving that dangerous spot of road between you and your job, instead of just renting a billboard next to it and infesting your entertainment with political advertisements? What if they sponsored, say, repairs to the sewage treatment plant, to demonstrate their worthiness for office? Personally pledged out of their re-election fund to keep open x number or well-maintained public rest rooms in high-traffic downtown areas, in addition to whatever they did with the public's money, as part of their campaign for mayor. To pay for repairs to the most dangerous local stretch of county road out of the campaign chest, when running for county commissioner. To co-sponsor improvements to the bridges between states when running for governor of neighboring states.