Reforming this country’s election system could give a giant boost to the American economy. I’m not suggesting, of course, that we elect better qualified candidates. That’s a hopeless quest. I’m suggesting that if we just have more elections, more often, for more public posts, it would generate badly needed spending and create a slew of new jobs.
Buying public offices has become much more expensive. Presidential and congressional campaigns spent an estimated $5.3 billion in 2008, up from $4.2 billion in 2004. It cost candidates Clinton and Dole just $232 million to run against each other in 1996, while Obama and McCain spent $2.4 billion to do the same thing in 2008. A cheap congressional campaign now costs a minimum of $1 million in contested districts, a cheap senate campaign $4 million.
These are just races at the national level. Mike Bloomberg spent $65 million of his own money to buy The Apple’s top job last time around. Rick Scott spent $73 million of his own money to buy the governorship of Florida. And these were the big name numbers a lot of people focus on. Races for everything from county sheriffs to municipal judges are now often spending fests as well in thousands of local jurisdictions around the country.
The nastier politics becomes, the greater the growth opportunities here. Look at what’s happening In Wisconsin, for example. Anger at Governor Walker and a Republican legislature’s union busting is generating 16 potential recall elections, which if enough recall signatures are actually gathered. will in essence double the number of elections for the same posts in the same state within a very short time frame.
You put it all together and it immediately becomes clear that campaigning is not just a political fact of life, It has become a really significant economic one as well. The question then arises how can we stimulate this spending and jobs producer, this indigenous growth industry, still further. Here’s a few suggestions to help make this happen.
Elect the president every two years instead of every four. Elect senators every four years instead of every six, and House members every year instead of every other year. Have a comparable boost in democracy at state and local levels. And change laws so recalls for virtually every elected post can be held monthly.
I know there are certain constitutional obstructions to such changes. But hey. Changing the federal and state constitutions along with local statues to bring these reforms into effect will require approval at the polls, which will give another giant boost to the election industry.
Being of the liberal persuasion, I am especially attracted to this kind of political reform. Look at the just made announcement by President Obama that he will seek reelection, and the predictions that he’ll raise another billion dollars for this run. Where is this kind of money going to come from? Not from fundraisers at food banks. No, sir. He’s gonna have to tap the rich to raise this much cash.
The rich are buying our governments at all levels. Everyone understands that now. They do so in order to avoid getting hit with higher taxes. Fine. This won’t change anytime soon. So maybe as a matter of equity we could at least force them to come up with more cash, more often, in more places, to purchase their government gofers. This is “soak the rich” in the era of Obama and Boehner.
We’re talking about big time jobs creation here. From the highest paid consultants to the minimum wage envelope stuffers, more and pricier elections mean jobs, jobs, jobs.
Better governance may have become a hopeless dream. But bad governance ameliorated by a weekly paycheck will take off a lot of the edge.
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