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Political Contribution Vouchers
Originally I thought of the term political contribution voucher while reading letters to the editor in the Newark Star-Ledger. One supported school vouchers and another talked about the corruption of the city of Newark and its school system. I thought it would be better to give citizens vouchers they could use to contribute to the candidates and parties of their choice so they could not only use competition to improve the schools, but improve the way the whole city was run by electing people that would represent their interests. While I am not opposed to something like that, it has nothing to do with my political contribution voucher program. I think we should try my program first. My political contribution voucher program is like a pledge to a telethon combined with a letter writing campaign. They state the voter's intention to contribute to and/or vote for a particular candidate or party or to contribute to and/or vote for whatever candidate or party meets the criteria outlined in the voter's voucher. Copies of these vouchers would be sent to candidates, parties and the media. What separates these vouchers from other partisan and issue orientated letter writing campaigns is that citizens can customize these vouchers to reflect their interests, rather than signing on to someone else's agenda that may include positions you don't agree with. This allows citizens with similar viewpoints on certain issues to work both individually and together to influence the political process and the media without having to join a group or agree on every issue. For example, 20 % of the people that previously voted for current major party candidates could send a political contribution voucher to those parties and the media stating that they would contribute 100 dollars and vote for their candidates if the party and candidates agree to accept only contributions from individuals in the amount of say 500 dollars or less. This would force the current major parties to either stop taking the large contributions ( doubtful ) or risk losing the contributions and votes to another party that meets the criteria outlined in the voucher ( it's no co-incidence that the Hundred Dollar Party easily meets the criteria in the example ). If 10 - 20 % of voters sent political contribution vouchers to media sources stating that they were going to contribute to and/or vote for a third party or independent candidate, the media would no longer be able to ignore that party or candidate. they certainly would not ignore the potential advertising revenue. Political contribution vouchers also allow citizens to show support for third parties and candidates without risking money on a candidate or party they don't know enough about. For example, citizens that like the idea of the Hundred Dollar Party could send vouchers to the Hundred Dollar Party and the media promising to send a contribution when enough other people have made pledges or the media has provided sufficient information to make the voter feel comfortable that the party is legitimate and/or viable. Political contribution vouchers can also be used to support issues. Members of the Green, Libertarian, other third parties and even the current major parties that support separate voting could send their parties a voucher promising a contribution if the party supports separate voting in it's platform. Citizens that want to contribute to the Hundred Dollar Party's constitutional challenge to the law that prevents separate voting for parties and candidates without supporting the rest of the Hundred Dollar Party platform can use a political contribution voucher to earmark their contribution for that purpose. If requested, 100 % of the contribution will be used to pay the legal expenses incurred by the Hundred Dollar Party for the constitutional challenge. |