I was reading the New York Times online this morning. The front page headline was “Death Knell May Be Near for Public Election Funds”. It seems that most of the upper tier 2008 presidential candidates will be opting out of the public funding pool, as it will only provide each applicant with $150,000,000.00 in campaigning money. Yes, one hundred and fifty million dollars. Hillary Clinton doesn't think it will be enough, so she's going begging in the public domain for more. John McCain is out collecting public money. Mitt Romney will forgo public financing. Barack Obama has declined to comment on his campaign finance options at this point.

     The article suggests that the two major party candidates competing for the United States Presidency on election day will each have raised and spent about half a billion dollars on campaigning. When all is said and done, there will have been at least a couple billion dollars raised and spent in the interest of slandering and libeling the presidential competition. This is what's being called democracy in the United States of America.

     Where does all this money come from? Who's got that kind of dough to throw around? In 2004, about 122.3 million people showed up at the polls, ostensibly to choose their new president. If every single one of those voters kicked down $18.00 for their candidate's coffers there would be enough, but I don't think that's where most of the dough is coming from. I think it's coming from large special interest groups, like corporations. Large business interests that want a say in the way they're governed, and are willing to slap down a fat wad to insure that they have it.

     The big name candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, have already realized that they are a commodity, and would rather not be beholden to the public's best interest, since the public is not wealthy enough or interested enough to own their politicians. They'll make their real campaign promises to the largest contributors. And since U.S. citizens are apparently a fairly complacent lot, they seem perfectly willing to go on about their business, unconcerned that some small percentage of the population owns the government, and by proxy, therefore owns them. The “market economy” can't stop at goods and services, it must also trade in power over YOU.

     So if you believe in the current system of governance in our fine country, I hope that you're putting a check mark in that tax return dedicating your $3 to public campaign financing, and that you've sent a letter or two to the appropriate agencies declaring your willingness to put a nice pile of cash into publicly financed campaigning. It's a free market election, and the presidency will go to the highest bidder. I think it's a waste of time and money, but if you think democracy in these trappings has a chance of really representing you, it's time to ante up. You'd better get a bunch of friends on board with you, though. Your wallet is in for some stiff competition; every single dollar out there now has the right to vote.