General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Here’s how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP bill/Guardian UK [View all]It seems wrong for the public to have to basically bid against corporations for congresspeople to vote in our interests, but with the current state of campaign finance law and this SCOTUS' interpretaions of money, speech, and corporate personhood, I thought maybe an alternative like this might be workable.
We wouldn't have to outbid the corporation, necessarily, a right-hearted congressperson that merely needs enough funding to win reelection could win without maximizing his/her campaign war chest, so long as they had enough to get their name known and their ideas heard.
But a mechanism where they could directly solicit public funds for issues when they are considering accepting lobbyist money but don't like the strings, seems like there might be a workable solution in there somewhere.