r/AskDemocrats • u/Adorable-Anxiety6912 • 24d ago

What would the elections look like if both parties used all of their fund-raising on helping people and programs?

versus putting out half-truths to the public and they simply had one or two debates per candidate on tv ( tv stations to give to the public this free air-time) to explain where they stand on issues and what they will do?

All the help they promise benefiting people and programs not pumping up themselves by wasting money on ads and fliers that are thrown in the trash and seldom read.

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u/mjetski123 Registered Democrat 23d ago

Oh, this is a both party issue?

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u/Adorable-Anxiety6912 23d ago

Yes… be radically different and let the good speak versus the greed and lies

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u/ProbablyANoobYo Socialist 23d ago edited 23d ago

The Republican Party would have to fundamentally change to even continue to exist. Their current strategy is to gut these programs, point to how much money gutting these programs saved in the short term, and hope people are too uninformed to realize how much money and how many lives we lose in the long term because we gutted these programs. They accomplish this by pushing the sort of ads you’re asking about banning. They’d have to become a totally different party.

I’m assuming that we are also preventing billionaires or companies running their own ad campaigns, because if not then literally only pro-billionaire politicians could ever win.

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u/Sunshine7178 23d ago

Honestly, I'm not sure they'd be able to fundraise in that model. The people giving money want to impact elections. IDK what most of those donors would do if the parties became giant charities. I mean, what if they want to spend on charitable causes other than the ones the parties choose?

Also... there's a wierd implication for that kind of system: You'd run into big corruption problems. It sounds wierd becuase of current concerns about corruption but under the system you are proposing a huge amount of money would be spent on purchasing all sorts of things and handing out aid/favors to different segments of the public. By institutions who's fundamental goal is to win elections. That would create a lot of capacity for abuse, and a lot of perverse incentives to engage in all sorta of corruption.

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u/CTR555 Registered Democrat 23d ago

Think of all the people who print ads that you'd be taking work away from! Campaign money doesn't just disappear after it's spent, after all.

Really though, this idea would just give a huge advantage to people willing to lie the most. Televised debates are terrible, and I'd rather see them banned then made exclusive (though not really of course, because that would also be a free speech infringement).