Is Our Country Ran on Democracy or Moneyocracy?

Lately it seems as if the people's vote in elections matter as much as money does. According to the Federal Election Commission, in the 2008 presidential election Barack Obama raised over 745 million dollars and John McCain raised over 219 million dollars for their campaigns. Obama spent over 729 million dollars and McCain spent over 202 million dollars on their campaigns. In the 2004 election Bush raised over 269 million dollars and spent over 268 million on his campaign. That same election Kerry raised over 234 million dollars and spent over 224 million on his campaign for presidency. When looking at these statistics, the candidate who raised the most funds or spent the most was the one who won the election that year.

So have the millions of dollars in fundraising turned our election process into a moneyocracy instead of a democracy like our founding fathers wanted for America? A person should get voted or not voted into the presidency based on whether or not the people agree with their values, past record, or stance or certain issues. People should not be eliminated from the race because they simply do not have enough money to keep running. What can be done to fix this issue? Should political advertisements be banned? Should there be a cap on how much money one's campaign can raise? Should there be a certain dollar amount on how much one can start their campaign with and then can't raise anymore funds?

The over 745 million dollars that was raised by the Obama campaign could have been used on better things than campaigning. Those millions of dollars could have been used to create tons of jobs or stimulate our economy. If many people or corporations are willing to donate an upwards of 1 billion dollars between two candidates, why are they complaining about paying more taxes? Keep in mind I don't thing raising taxes is the all might solution to our problems.

Anyone have anyother ideas on how to prevent a Moneyocracy from happening in the future?

Sources: 2008 Presidential Campaign Financial Activity Summarized;  2004 Presidential Campaign Financial Activity Summarized

Herman Cain "Smoking" Ad



If anyone hasn't seen the GOP Candidate, Herman Cain's, advertisment, which I am sure everyone has, but feel free to watch it. This ad has been all over the news media for about a week, so I figured I would blog about my response to this ad and what the media has been saying.

First I will give you a rundown of the ad. It shows Mark Block who is the chief of staff for Herman Cain and the chief operating officer of Friends of Herman Cain. Friends of Herman Cain is the organization that supports Cain. He says "I believe Herman Cain will put the United back in the United States of America." The he also states "We have ran a campain like nobody has ever seen, but then again nobody has ever seen a candidate like Herman Cain." The last thing Mark Block says is "Together we can take this county back." The the I am America song comes on and show Mark Block smoking. The last that is shown Herman Cain smiling.

My analysis of this ad is that it is a fairly good ad. You hardly ever see a chief of staff in an ad for a candidate which makes it seem like he is a down to earth person. This also relates to one of his quotes later on in which he says that nobody has seen a campaign ran like this. The he states Cain will put United back in the USA. To me that means that he thinks the country is divided and that Cain can reunite the country. According to Block's last statement he thinks that the country needs to be taken back. That could mean a variety of things; he might think that democrats have taken over our country or socialists have taken over our county. Regardless, I think this needed to be explained a little better.

The part that caused all of the contraversy is the part where Mark Block is seen smoking. This part was five seconds of the entire ad, which lasts fifty-six seconds. This smoking part was not even ten percent of the add but has caused all of this contraversy. Regardless, my stance on the smoking part is that the Herman Cain campaign did this to show that Mark Block was a regurlar american. The ad may have also been to cause contraversy, so that he would get free advertising. As many people know the Cain campaign does not or did not have very much money when starting off. This ad was not shown on tv or anything it was merely posted on Cain's website. He may have also done this to try to catch the attention of smokers, since 1 out of 5 people smoke according to a recent poll. Since smoking has been censored this ad may resonate with smokers who think that government should not censor smoking. Just something to think about.

As I mentioned before send me messages regarding anything you would like me to report on I will try to get to asap. Until next time!

Are we at a Standstill or is America Splitting Apart or Both

It seems as if our country or rather congress is at a standstill. From what I have read, watched, or been told, is that since we are heading into an election year, Democrats do not want to pass anything that has been created by Republicans even if they agree with it. On the flip side, Republicans do not want to pass anything that has been written by Democrats regardless if they agree with it or not. the reason behind this is that neither of them want the other party to look better. Many representatives have said that they have submitted many proposals but congress will either not even vote or just not pass them. Is this not what they are paid to do vote on proposals or better yet pass bills? Why pay these congress men and women if they are not doing their jobs?

So what is going to happen? Well if you have been paying attention to the news then you have been seeing President Obama going around Congress to try and get things done. Is this something that should be done? Maybe! We will have to wait and see how it pans out but at least something is trying to be done.

If Congress is not doing anything and if Americans are very dissapointed in Congress, then why do we need them. It would save the country quite a bit of money by not having to pay them. Maybe things would actually get accomplished.

If Congress was gone what could be done to help the country? I have thought that we could have the House of Representatives write bills and then they could be voted on by the people. The argument to that would be that not everyone will vote. Well to counteract that this would get more people to vote and if someone doesn't vote then they have no one else to blame besides themselves if they do not like what is passed. This would also create jobs since people have to run the polls when a bill comes up for vote. Another argument is who would keep those bills in check to make sure that they are not unconstitutional. Well we have the judicial system to ensure this.

It is just an idea. Something drastic needs to happen in this country for it to change. Regardless if you agree or not it is something to think about. Feel free to let me know what you think. There will be more posts to come on a varitey of topics related to politics and the government.

MTOG (Quick name for this blog)

Introduction and Background Information

Hello my name is Ben. I am just a regular American, who is currently in college. I am currently near Denver, CO, but I have moved all around when growing up since my father was in the military. I decided to create this blog because I have many thoughts about the government, what the media shows, and many other things. I will not tell you about all my ideas on certain policies, or values at this time as I am sure they will come out as I post. I will be talking about many things that are going on relating to the goverment. I will also be posting many videos or articles from many different news sources and posting what I think about it. If any of this has interested you feel free to follow me and bookmark me, since I plan on blogging several different posts a day.

You are also welcome to post comments on anything that I post. The only requirement that I have is that they not be hateful. Also, instead of posting links to other sources that may or may not be related to the topic, feel free to send me links that you would like me to report on.

Thanks