Imagine a system where a certain amount of funds were allocated to elections, that amount was divided by every citizen, and we were each given the option to allocate our percentage to the candidate(s) of our choice, perhaps with some minimum amount given to each candidate in addition to cover cases where new candidates are trying to enter.
Overturn Citizens United (and launch billionaires into space)
Submitted 4 days ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to workreform@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/d3da99c1-cb17-4569-b775-200dad4b9017.png
Comments
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 4 days ago
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
…thats pretty much an election in itself.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 4 days ago
Kind of, except that if you throw your funds at a grassroots candidate, you’re helping to give them the ability to convince other people to vote for them in the actual election, and you could choose to (for example) give all of your funding to that grassroots candidate but still vote strategically in the general.
im_fine_sandy@nord.pub 4 days ago
We have something like this in Australia. Candidates receive a fixed amount, maybe $2.50, per first preference vote, provided that they achieve more than 4% of all votes.
The 4% requirement avoids creating an incentive for every idiot to register a political party so they can get a few hundred dollars from the Electoral Commission.
The effect is to essentially tie what you proposed into the election itself.
We do still have private donations, but I think they’re somewhat restrictive, and the public funding lessens the benefit of private donations.
HK65@sopuli.xyz 4 days ago
We have a similar system, every party gets X amount, which has to be paid back by parties who don’t get 1% of the vote.
cecilkorik@piefed.ca 4 days ago
I recommend we allow billionaires to launch themselves into space, on their own dime. Occupy Mars! For the billionaires! So much free real estate waiting to be claimed!
Then the real trick is: once they’ve self-exiled, don’t let them come back. And they will try to come back, trust me. They truly have no idea how much Mars sucks, they are NOT the brilliant clever people they have convinced both themselves and everyone else they are. Let them play their games, then laugh when they discover the consequences.
birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
The one issue: what if billionnaires try to keep access to their own wealth through those channels restricted? That is, others can’t claim it. They have proxy defence…
cecilkorik@piefed.ca 4 days ago
They can try, but how can such “wealth” exist without mutual consent? Their entire concept of ownership is predicated on money. We have all bent the knee and pledged allegiance to the concept of “money” but what happens when people no longer choose to remain loyal to it? How do they plan to keep those channels restricted? How much do you have to pay your proxies to protect things on your behalf when money is no longer something that is driving value in people’s lives anymore? How long can you keep money working as a motivating factor when the systems built on it start breaking down?
They have built their lives and plans on the same lies that we have. Those lies are only real because we have all willingly suspended our disbelief and chosen to believe them because it suits us to do so. If it no longer suits us, we no longer need to continue believing, and no matter how hard the small number of billionaires and larger numbers of millionaires insist on believing, it won’t matter. Once enough people stop believing in the lies, it’ll become crystal clear that the wealth was just an illusion all along.
I expect violence, from both sides, the only question is how long it will last and how severe it will be and what things will look like when it ends. I truly hope for something better, and I believe that with wisdom something much better is possible, but I’m not naive enough to expect it.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 4 days ago
It’s all paper wealth, 99% of it is not tangible assets.
LIkely the companies they own can just vote to revoke those shares, increasing every other shareholders’ value in the process. Will likely first need a new law allowing it in the first place as I’m not sure if that’s legal currently.
Or the government takes control of those shares.
daychilde@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Governments are more powerful than individuals, as long as governments are able to answer to The People rather than the oligarchs.
So it all depends. Can we take our government back, or no? If we can, a gentle reminder that taxing the wealthy IS the compromise and the carrot. The stick is guillotines.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 days ago
i say we give them phobos.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 4 days ago
It completely undermines the message when you put it on Musk’s twitter.
jnkmail@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Want to send this to a friend but tried fact checking it first by looking for the tweet on Sander’s page and couldn’t find it. I almost never use Twitter so maybe I’m missing something. Anyone have a link?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 days ago
republican spending by thier donors, seems to outstrips the dem ones, we know they have them too. but bankrolling gop benefits them more.
arotrios@lemmy.world 4 days ago
For the means of space travel, I propose the use of trebuchets to both ensure a speedy delivery and significantly reduce the chance the package will be returned to sender.
Dojan@pawb.social 4 days ago
Also a LOT more environmentally friendly. I mean I’m sure that if we shot up all billionaires into space using traditional rockets, we’d still be going net positive in terms of climate impact on account of just how much they ruin over their lifetime, but trebuchets are inexpensive and easy to reuse. Rockets and their fuel, not so much.
AmyAye@nord.pub 4 days ago
Put them in one of those subs that imploted under water and just yeet them towards Mars.
arotrios@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I’m down with this as long as we launch the subs with trebuchets.
minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
You’re right, Bernie, you often are. So why don’t Americans ever actually support you enough for anything you say to happen?
cecilkorik@piefed.ca 4 days ago
Because most Americans don’t know anything about Bernie, or maybe at most they know of a few extreme quotes Fox News or CNN have spit out from him. Educated well-informed voters are a tiny, tiny subset of actual voters.
daychilde@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Decades of fascist propaganda means minimal support for human rights. The relentless attack means the Overton window is pushed so far over that even “centrists” are right-wing.
state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 4 days ago
They shouldn’t even exist. And yet, the current status is exactly what capitalism will always inevitably lead to. Capitalism is the problem.