Jimmy Carter calls for return to publicly financed elections

[Craig234]

46. Congressional corruption

The financing of Congressional elections is one critical issue.

And that one makes the price tag so high they have to spend half their time dialing for dollars - and to do THAT they obviously have to have policies a few wealthy donors find appealing. If not, they can post on DU instead of being in office.

But that's only part of the problem. Another critical issue is that over half of Congress and their staff members go to lobbying when they leave office - creating a massive industry of influencing votes replacing the public interest.

And since they know they're wanting to go to lobbying, they know they need to do what lobbyists want while in office.

This is why so often the only time the public interests has a chance is when there is a conflict between two powerful lobbying interests and one of them happens to align with the public.

But the public cannot compete giving money for a good cause with interests who make billions from their donations.