No Magic Bullet

No Magic Bullet

by digby

It’s very easy to chalk all the bad things in government up to bad character and corruption. After all, if there wasn’t so much money required to run for office, our representatives would all be able to just sit around a table and calmly figure out what’s best for the people, right? I watched Casino Jack last night and convicted felon Bob Ney explained that if he hadn’t had to chase money the way he did, he would never have gotten so involved with Abramoff and company. He was foursquare behind public financing.

Well, I’m not convinced. I think money is a huge factor, no doubt about it. However, I think human nature and ideology are even bigger. I don’t believe that simply getting the money out of politics, however laudable and necessary that is, will necessarily result in a more progressive government devoted to the general welfare.

And I have a little bit of proof: Arizona, where 70% of the state representatives were elected under public financing. We know what they just did, don’t we?

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