Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! - Jesse Ventura [124]
Besides computer scams and other methods of vote stealing, I think our elections are fraudulent today simply in how the system operates. Campaign finance “reform,” that so-called bipartisan McCain-Feingold bill, is a sham. The two parties simply found loopholes and started cheating the very first year. Another of the bigger factors in why I didn’t run for governor again is because I find the raising of money so despicable. My parents taught me that you work for what you earn. In contemporary politics, it’s come down to panhandling. You attend the right fundraisers and you glad-hand people and, in return, they write you checks.
I cringe when I hear how many millions the 2008 presidential candidates have raised in campaign contributions. As of the end of October ’07, the eight Democrats have raked in more than $244 million, and the ten Republicans another $175 million! We’re supposed to believe that these donors aren’t buying future favors? Interestingly, the top five American arms manufacturers are now giving more to Democrats than Republicans. Their favorite happens to be Hillary Clinton, who is also being backed by Wall Street.
I saw in the paper a couple of stories juxtaposed on the same page that I found quite ironic. One was about Minneapolis starting a crackdown on panhandlers. The other was about a heavyweight politician coming to town for a fundraiser. I called a local radio station and left a message saying I found it hard to distinguish between the two.
I’m not big on socialism, but maybe it’s time we limited the campaign money to one publicly funded source so that every candidate’s share is equal. If that’s unconstitutional, then why not remove all limits and go to full disclosure? At least that way, you know who is buying the influence.
All that politicians do, at least in the House of Representatives, is look to the next election two years down the road. If you’re a rookie congressman, you spend your first year getting oriented to Washington. The second year, you spend campaigning to come back again. Let’s say you win reelection. You then spend one year when you can finally go to work, but you’ve got to be back on the campaign trail after that. Three of the four years are rendered non-productive, or certainly not as productive as they could be. So why do we continue with two-year election cycles? Why not go to four-year or even six-year terms in the House, like they have in the Senate?
I tried to do something about this situation on a state level. This was based on my experience running for governor. Remember, I was the private sector guy. The other two were already coming from jobs in public life, as a mayor and a state attorney general. How come I had to leave my job and not get paid for six months while, at the same time, they held onto their jobs (and their paychecks)—which they weren’t even doing because they were busy running for another job!
I wondered why we allowed them to do that, using our tax dollars. Imagine if you worked for somebody in a private company and told the boss, “I’m going to spend the next six months trying to get this other job, so I won’t be here for you. But I still want you to pay me while I’m out job-hunting.” So I tried to get a bill passed making it illegal for seated politicians to campaign Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., at times when they are supposed to be working. I couldn’t even get anybody to carry the bill into the legislature.
What the public needs to understand is, if you want honest government today, there need to be wholesale mega-changes in the way it runs. You don’t change it by electing different people to go into the same system. The two political parties are so out for their own power that the people are nothing but pawns in their chess game.
Headline: LARRY KING LIVE: DOES JESSE VENTURA ‘STAND ALONE’?
KING: Who are political pawns?
VENTURA: Political pawns to me are the two parties, because I find, Larry, that most elected officials, especially at the state level, come in with an attitude they want to do a good job, they want