They at least seem to get that this should not be about political parties,
It should be about reducing the influence of powerful and moneyed special interest groups.

I dream about what the elected could be doing during the time they spend now soliciting campaign funds.

Today, Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced a bill to establish funds for federal elections for the Senate: the Fair Elections Now Act…This bold and important bill transforms elections for the U.S. Senate from a business enterprise into a contest of ideas focusing on our nation’s challenges.

and i’m not certain how many would agree with calling the league of women voters “professional activist from the left”, but i’m sure it’s just another naive and laughable opinion of mine

oh, and let me just add George Voinovich to the list of professional activist from the left that hold this naive and laughable idea – oh, wait – ‘the hill’ is just another arm of the left wing conspiracy vying to eliminate all ideas but their own

In any system we set up, there will always be conservative and liberal voices. Republican’s aren’t stupid, they might loose the next election or the next two because of institutional inertia, but they will adapt.

Church outreach programs already seems very much in line with public financing, and they certainly lean right. Also, what’s to stop republicans from starting their own NGOs? And what will stop them from buying media outlets?

I guess I’ll agree, that in the short term the left wins, but the important point we should all be focusing on is that in the long term, everyone wins.

I would love for someone to explain to me how such a system would work without making the Democratic Primary the only relavent election. I just do not see how giving labor unions, government employees, professional leftist activist, and NGO’s all of the advantages will serve any good purpose other than for those on the left who want to eliminate all political parties/movements except their own. If you could find some on the right who could support the idea and could explain their support then the proposal may have merit. But when the only people campaigning for it are professional activist from the left, we should all be very skeptical.

superdestroyer – according to http://www.campaignmoney.org/polling
only 16% oppose public financing

now, you may say this a skewed poll, but it still indicates that there are likely more the 50% who do not oppose it – that indicates that a majority would like to give it a shot

there’s also league of women voters – but maybe they’re too leftist for you as well

i like the idea that what we do is continue to push the system towards accountability to individuals, and that we continue to strive to clean up politics. it will always be a little dirty, it will never be perfect, but it seems to be the best system we’ve come up with so far, and part of the power of the system is the ability to change it

But circumstances do change. The prime movers behind non-partisan redistricting reform in California are Republicans who, as the minority, would like a more level playing field.

It seems to me that anyone who sincerely prefers an open, balanced, pragmatic, objective, honorable government would support any ways to minimize the influence of special interests.

Consumer interests- the rights of the little guy to stand up against the power of business has always been viewed as lefty politics as well. But without consumer law we’d have unsafe products and unsanitary business practices.

I would hope that people would think about what’s best for the country.

This vast left wing conspiracy nonsense is really tiresome.
Maybe there is more Democratic funding for these initiatives, because more Democrats care about upgrading our political system.

Talk about conspiracy theories!

If those are your arguments, I’ll vote for whatever you’re against.

Already, we get as much justice as we can buy via the caliber of lawyer we can afford.

Is everything for sale?

If you look at who is supporting public financing, they are all on the left. Public financing is not about achieving the best but about giving the left a huge advantage. Look at the links about public financing. They are leftist sites where all the complaints are about Republican politicians and are all organized and run by people who come from the leftside of political spectrum.

The long term prospects of public financing is total domination by the left. If anyone on the left thought that the right would benefit at all, they would be against it.

shaun and idiosyncrat – dying to hear YOUR plans for cleaning up NJ politics

My guess is that if Maryland adopts such a proposal that the last few Republicans will be eliminate from the state House and Senate. Public financing just means that the Democratic Primary will be the only meaningful election in most of the United States.

I do see how giving far left NGO’s most of political power in the United States will somehow do away with special interest politics.