RE: Publicly funded campaigns

[Reed Davis <rd100@delphi.com>]

> WHEN YOU CONSIDER THIS ACTION PROPOSED BY CHOICE 1:
>
> Would you be willing to support public funding for campaigns?
>
> Why do you favor this action? 
>
> What might be cost or negative outcome of this action?

Yes, I support public funding.  However, I think that any public
funding must supply nearly all of the funding required for a
campaign to be effective.  If you give a man half of the food
that he requires to stay alive, he will still make a very great
effort to obtain the other half and will still be very grateful
to anyone who helps him obtain it.

The good news is that the cost of fully funding public campaigns
would be relatively small.  According to your plan summary at
http://www.info-ren.org/network-democracy/map/bb/nif/summary.html ,
campaign spending amounts to an estimated $10 per eligible voter
every two years for all elections in the nation.  This is in
line to my estimate of $2.5 billion for all federal campaigns in
the 1995-96 campaign cycle.  Hence, we can easily afford public
funding if we wish.

Reed Davis