Notification to Withdraw from Voluntary Spending limits…

I was notified today that John Hickenlooper has filed to be a candidate for Governor of Colorado but has not filed the form, “voluntarily acceptance of campaign spending limits” for his campaign. I now have the option to withdraw my commitment to limit my campaign spending based on Colorado statute. By statute I can withdraw, on principal I cannot.

I believe if I have the ability to spend $2.65 million I could win, even if another candidate raises a billion dollars. Truth and principle always win when the message gets out to the people. $2.65 million is enough to get the message out.

With the Mayor’s refusal to accept spending limits I actually would have the opportunity to spend more than the $2.65 million if I chose to but why? Social media has leveled the field significantly and if you can’t manage $2.65 million to win a campaign, you don’t deserve to manage the state’s affairs.

Thank you Mayor Hickenlooper for giving me the opportunity to increase the amount of money I can spend but, I'm disinclined to acquiesce to the opportunity your campaign has given me. Good luck!

Approval Rating; Congress 20% vs. Bush 32%

Is it any wonder the approval ratings are where they are when you look at the people that occupy the offices in those great halls of congress? It is mostly made up of people that are not so great. They actually have contempt toward the people they represent. Take the illegal immigration debate for a recent example. Take Nancy Pelosi’s recent comment that the EEOC should sue businesses for requiring employees to speak English. Look at the Social Security disaster that is getting closer and closer. Take anything Kennedy, Waxman, Clinton, Schumer propose for this country, and you see that 20% is actually very high.

Why is it that we can’t implement term limits for congress? 8 years for the House and 12 Years for the Senate? Why is it OK for the President and not the congress? I have done some anecdotal research, and I have concluded there is a direct correlation between the length of time a member serves in congress, and there likelihood of disregarding the will of their constituency. The longer politicians are in office, the more likely they lose their ability to understand, or the will to protect, the true intentions of our founders and the constitution. The more likely they are to hold a minority opinion on any issue important to the American public.

We must take the opportunity to make our voices heard in the 2008 election. We must have the courage to send a message to both parties that we are done with the lack of leadership and understanding of what the real problems are, and the right solutions to correct the problems. We must fix the foundation before we rebuild the house. We must get rid of the current crop of “leaders” and restructure the way the house operates. We must get rid of the incentive to raise money above the incentive to raise he..!

It is time to invest in our future prosperity. The first down payment is to get a new crop of leaders that are willing to shake it up. We need to elect people that will let their actions in congress be their campaign strategy. We must break the quid pro quo of the current funding of elections. We must start from the beginning, and that is only going to happen if you begin to take a stake in your future. I have confidence that the American people will wake up in this election. I may be crazy but I have a feeling…

One small step...

I have been on a roll recently posting about the problems plaguing the two political parties and I have linked here to a Bob Franken blog post, at The Hill website. Bob has been a Journalist for many years and he has covered politics for most of his career. He knows the system is broken and in today’s post he hints at campaign finance reform. I agree we need campaign finance reform but I do not want the government meddling again so we get another “McCain-Feingold” type reform, and end up stomping on freedom of speech rights again. I think the reform should be simple.

I suggest we work on two aspects of campaigning; the length you can campaign, and how you can finance the campaign.

Length of the campaign should be tied to the type of campaign. For example; the presidential campaign and statewide office campaigns like governor and senator,etc… should be limited to 8 months. No money can be raised prior to the eight months. All other campaigns are limited to 6 months.

Financing; no candidate can donate more than the $3000 limit to their own campaign. Any individual can donate up to $3000.00 to any campaign. No PAC money can be given to the campaign but they can run as many issue ads as they would like. No candidate can be associated with any PAC. No corporate donations to individual or PACS. All donations must be listed immediately on the candidates and PAC’s website.

We need to get big money out and individual money into political campaigns. We need to reduce the time we need to focus on political campaigns so voters don’t become fatigued with the debate. It has become an anointing process at the party level, and the money has been controlled far too long at the lobbyist and corporate PAC level. We can’t ignore groups that have an interest in politics because they have rights in the political arena too. They represent millions of voter’s opinions and deserve to get their message out. We just need to disconnect them from the individual candidate.

What we need are representatives in government that are focused on the good of the American people, American business, and American values. The party system encourages the dissection of people into interest groups which undermines the entire system. The current finance system for campaigns favors the wealthy and corporate interests, and we need to put in guidelines that make the system more accessible for all. I don’t have all the answers and there will be no system that is perfect but when a system is this far out of balance we need to engage the debate.

Bob Franken has been an Emmy winning political journalist and he knows the system has issues and I believe he is just the tip of the iceberg. The voters know the system is broken. We just have to convince the rest of the “insiders” it is time for reform of the parties, time frames, and the campaign finance process. Just a thought…