and while i'm mandating, i meant to post this a few days ago

[hermionesviolin]

Am i the only person who thinks a flat tax would be a good idea? All paychecks (excluding paying under the table, obviously) pass through the federal government anyway. Couldn’t the federal government just take 10% (or whatever gets deemed a good number) out of everyone’s paycheck just like Social Security etc. gets taken out? This would eliminate the entire April 15 process. (Clearly i’m evil, because the fact that this would mean some huge number of people would be out of work is not to my mind a compelling reason to retain the current tax system.)

Campaign finance is trickier. I hate that you have to be rich to make it in politics, but it also seems obscene to say “People like you enough to give you lots of money, but we won’t let you use it.” But then, what do you need campaign funds for, exactly?

Well, first you need to spread your message to voters. We get booklets before local elections about what a Yes or No vote on Proposition #whatever would mean. I have long thought there should be something similar for candidates. Succinct easy-to-understand statements of their platforms. Brief summaries of their voting records. I absolutely think people should be informed voters, and i have long wished that it were easier for people to be so.

National debates i assume you get your transportation/housing subsidized by your party.

Wandering the country kissing babies... yeah, you can spend your own money on that.

Comments

Oops, sorry it took me so long to respond to this.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I hadn't really though about inheritances and stuff, but given how much the government is involved in the paperwork of everything, it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to have the government take out x percentage of all income, be it salary or inheritance or whatever.

So you don't trust the people who currently have power in the two-party system to come up with good campaign finance reform? Okay, fair enough, but you still haven't explained what a solution would look like.

Re: Oops, sorry it took me so long to respond to this.

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

The same solution libertarians offer for most social ills: deny that there's a problem. Really, I'm not sure why campaign finance reform is considered such a pressing matter.

Re: Oops, sorry it took me so long to respond to this.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

The same solution libertarians offer for most social ills: deny that there's a problem.
Ouch.

Really, I'm not sure why campaign finance reform is considered such a pressing matter.
It's not particularly high up on my personal list, but it seemed an appropriate thing to mention after taxes, and i realized that people talk about it all the time and i'd never really thought about what i think on the matter.