RE: Conclusion: Individual Reflections

[Ellen Russak <erussak@aol.com>]

David Wilkinson writes: "Financial contributions, especially large one, are assumed to be corrupting on individual officials and ultimately the system itself... I wonder what our governmental system would be like if it worked without those financial contributions. How would our government operations be different? In what ways would governmental decisions be different?" 

The link between large campaign contributions and legislation outcome has been clearly linked over and over by many statisticians - both by influencing sitting legislators and by replacing noncompliant ones.  If legislators were not caught up in the money race, they would have to rely on something else to get votes - perhaps even reaching out in a meaningful way to the majority of the electorate - I'd like the chance to find out.

It might mean that decisions would be made by relying on Knee-jerk polls and that wouldn't be so good.  It might mean that more grassroots education would go on because people would become more engaged as they felt their voices could finally be heard. What we do know is that the status quo is a disaster that will only get worse without reform.  Unfortunately we have to depend on the foxes to get the legislation passed - united grassroots pressure would help but the grassroots isn't united on anything except the fact that there is a serious problem.

David Wilkinson asks: "..I wonder how our perspectives from a socio-economic class perspective affect our own view. If one has more money, does it seem more appropriate to share it with candidates tha if one doesn't?"

The simple answer is yes.

I would think that it would depend a lot on the amount of money you has.  If your entire focus concentrates on putting bread on the table and keeping a roof over your head, you won't have time or energy to pay attention to elections or complicated issues. Plus you might not have the education or political savvy even if you had the time and energy.  

If you have money and your business or your ethical beliefs could benefit from special legislation, it would be worth your while to invest time, money, and long term stategy to get involved. You probably would have the education and savvy to do it.  You could make a big impact at all levels of government and get a "bang for your buck."

If you are in what used to be the vast (now shrinking) middle, your investment in the election process and interest in issues has been found to correlate closely to whether your family and peers care about elections and issues. If you were inclined to donate at all, you might not see much or any "bang" for your medium sized contribution.  Donating to an NGO or faith based organization would be more likely than donating directly to a candidate.

However, this is also where the campaign "soldiers" come from - the envelope stuffers and telephoners. It's doesn't comprise a large percentage of this group but perhaps that will change if CFR reenergizes the system.