One person, one vote

I had a thought the other day about campaign contributions.  If you give $10, or $10,000 to Candidate X, haven’t you cast a figurative ballot for that candidate?  Wouldn’t that mean that if you then cast an actual ballot for them on Election Day that you’ve … voted twice?  Casting a ballot for a candidate doesn’t guarantee that candidate will win, but you hope they do.  Giving a candidate money doesn’t guarantee they win, but you hope they do. 

Money is the blood of a political campaign.  It isn’t always the case, but the candidate with the most money is usually the one able to convince the most people to vote for them.  How many people who vote for a candidate also gave them money?  Why is this … double voting allowed?

What if we made a law that you can either donate money to a candidate, or you could vote for them in the election.  How would that work?  Well, the candidates with the backing of the super wealthy would be most likely to win.  One billionaire can only cast one vote, but with a few million dollar donations they can convince thousands to vote the way they want.  How many qualified candidates not only don’t get votes but never get a second glance because they don’t have the backing of a billionaire?  Maybe we should put some more thought into publicly funded elections.