There Must Be Reform Term paper

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There must be reform! At the rate the United States of America is evolving at, it wouldn t be a surprise if it is on its way to becoming an oligarchy. This country is governed by the dollar, not by the president or even the people. The campaign for the presidency is becoming like a campaign for president of the student council it is a popularity contest. The president is no longer elected due to his credentials and beliefs; his is elected by how much in can get into the public s face and make them smile. Presidential candidates say whatever will please the public and win them some votes, this is no surprise and this isn t really the bad part. The bad part is money controls the means for a candidate to even gain enough recognition and notability to arouse the publics interests. This stands true for not only presidential elections but also Senate and House campaigns.

Being the year 2001 candidates now have more options available to them to make themselves known. The only problem is, all these new methods (television, radio, the Internet) cost money to use. This immediately brings up two problems. The first being that the candidate with the most funds has a great advantage to winning just based on their ability to gain exposure. The second is that campaigns (presidential or otherwise) turn into a race for money and valor rather than for the benefit for the country and the people residing within. The lack of money can make a good candidate fail miserably if they do not have the funds to support themselves and on the opposite end of the spectrum, it can make a horrible candidate the victor due to an unequal advantage. The object of democratic elections is to allow the people of the United States vote for whom they feel would be best to run their country, not to coerce them to vote for the guy that had the most media appeal (for example, President Reagan).

The road to reform is the road to recovery for our media-weakened country. There are five specific areas that could greatly use some reforming in our electoral process. The issues of hard money and soft money are the two most important issues, but the others, such as issue ads, television time and public financing are not to be ignored either.

Candidates receive money is two forms; soft money and hard money. Soft money is money that is contributed to a state of local party for party-building purposes that does not have to be disclosed under federal law, this means a candidate and rake up a large amount of money and never have to be held accountable for it. Hard money on the other hand is regulated and must be disclosed to the government under federal law. The problem here does not lie in the hard money situations, but rather the soft money. Since hard money is accounted for and regulated it is rather hard (and illegal) to appropriate it in the wrong ways. Hard money, if evenly granted, is a delightful boost to either party and causes no harm to the election (if used justly and legally). Soft money is the culprit of undermining elections. Since it is not legally required to disclose the money before the government, there is no regulation on how much a candidate can receive and this can lead to problems. This amount of soft money given to a candidate or party can be at price. Often candidate and parties receive this soft money from large corporations and this is translated into big bucks, sometimes hundreds of thousands or more! This money not only makes the battle unfair due to the vastly unequal levels at which the two candidates stand but it can also affect the public in ways that are often overlooked. For example, in 1998 Senate Republican leader Lott and National Republican Senatorial Committee head Mitch McConnell called the meetings and organized the votes to kill Senator John McCain's legislation to control the use of tobacco. The use of tobacco is growing (especially with teens) and is without a doubt detrimental to the health of anyone who uses it. The republicans voted against McCain s proposal due to some soft money that the Republican Party received from large tobacco companies. So basically what it comes down to is that the Republicans put the health of America (and its youth) in jeopardy in return for some hush money. Something just seems so uncouth about this situation and this happens all the time.

The next two issues dealing with ads and television are very much media related. The media controls almost everything in our society including how we perceive people and to an extent how we think. Ads can be a beneficial way to gain a candidate exposure. In its purest form, ads can be a relatively effective way to arouse public awareness of a candidate and their stance on popular issues. What ad campaigning has become is a childish mud-slinging contest. Currently the purpose of ads seems to be defaming an opposing candidate in hopes of pushing them out of the race and leaving the other to be the only decent candidate left, some choice they give the people. The only problem with regulating phony ads is that it violates the 1st Amendment s freedom of speech clause. Everyone is entitled to freedom of speech, this is true, but people should have the dignity to use this right in a proper manner.

All candidates should also be allowed equal free time on television. This will allow an equal amount of televised competition...

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