Comments by "wvu05" (@wvu05) on "Nancy Pelosi Forced To Support Ban On Lawmaker Stock Trading" video.

Who is going to see this convention? The solution is public funding. Organizing costs money. If you have no money at all, people will just vote for familiar names.
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@awbrakeley Indeed. There was a movement called Clean Campaigns, where candidates opted in to public funding, and candidates who opted out were free to do so, but any dollar above the threshold they raised, the Clean Campaign candidates got matching funds so that no one could get outspent. This is far superior to Democracy Dollars, because it doesn't solve the problem of rich candidates outspending poorer ones.
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@danmortenson5274 The money has to be enough to actually run a campaign. $5000 might be enough for a small-town city council race, but that's about it. Yes, people will always go for the known entity. My point is that any public funding has to be enough to get other candidates the opportunity to get known. I'm helping a friend of mine in a state senate race where the district is in Philly. Even though he's putting most of his effort into grassroots organizing, the goal is half a million dollars. I am all for public funding with taxpayer dollars. I just don't want to be so stingy that no one takes it up given the restrictions involved (See: Presidential Campaign Matching Funds, where the only candidate to take it in 2016 [Martin O'Malley] went nowhere, and I don't think any candidate took it in 2020).
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