Common Ground

[James Cooper <james.cooper@socma.com>]

With such a diverse group of people, it is difficult finding common ground.  Taking Taylor's advice, I think there is some common ground regarding what people see as problems:

1. Too much time spent raising money
2. Money increasing access to politicians
3. Money influencing decisions
4. Disproportionate representation
5. Lack of trust in the process

While 1 and 2 are things that I've seen personally, I find it hard to say they are not problems.  3 and 4, however, I do not believe to be very prevalent.  In the case of 3, most politicians' positions are known before they are elected.  While they sometimes do change their position, it is rarely connected to money for their campaign.  

Regarding 4, everyone can contact his or her elected official.  Since these officials are usually very busy, you often deal with the reprentative's staff.  The same holds true for lobbyists.  Although big donors can get elected officials to show up at functions, and may get more face time, most work is done by the staff.  Therefore, most lobbyists do their work with the staff.  In addition, there are lobbyists representing every conceivable viewpoint, so there is somewhat of a balance already. 

Although I've detected a lack of trust among many participants toward the election process, politicians and lobbyists , I am not sure if that is even fixable.

To wrap this up, I think there are problems with the current campaign process.  How much of these can be regulated away, I'm not sure.  That's ok, though.  I think we, as a society, should try to change things for the better.  I also think that this will probably not be fixed with one piece of legislation.  It may take some experimentation with different approaches before we find the right answer.  I suggest we do this incrementally and methodically, so as not to totally disrupt the entire process.  Because this process sure beats many others I've seen.

Sincerely,
James Cooper