Op-ed Media Campaign - Kenyon College, OH

Op-eds and other forms of mass media are a great way to educate the public and deliver a message. All the East Coast college coordinators wrote op-eds about the mid-term election, corruption, and clean election reform and submitted them to their school paper and a local/community paper. The following op-ed was written by Karl Stark, campus coordinator at Kenyon College in Ohio. Enjoy!

According to the pollsters, newspapers, candidates and any radio show host, this year’s midterm elections were a “referendum on Iraq.” That may very well be. Approval ratings dropped without any policy change from the White House or the Hill, and challengers made it the nucleus of their campaigns.

But this year’s elections were about more than just Iraq. They were about more than rising health care costs, high unemployment and environmental concerns. The midterm elections were, quite simply, a referendum on accountability. It might have all started with Tom Delay, but it probably went back further than that, further than Verizion eavesdropping and Jack Abramoff. It goes back even further than Katrina. It started, ironically, with the Republican Party’s own: Newt Gingrich.

In 1994, Gingrich and the GOP took back the House for the first time in 40 years. Gingrich proposed his “Contract with America,” which promised the American people a smaller, more efficient, and more accountable government run by the Republican Party. “Tired of the pork-barrel politics?” Gingrich asked, “Give us a shot.” From then on, the public has held a watchful and disapproving eye over its politicians.

The events of the last two years have shown what happens when power is taken as an entitlement. As the Republican Party was able to pull off political victory after political victory, it became, in the eyes of its own members, more and more indestructible. And with House reelection percentages above 90% and the President having just wrapped the last campaign of his political career, there seemed to be little threat to the seats of power. This is exactly where the problem lies. The campaign cycles are kicking off earlier and earlier, to the point that many members are building their 2008 campaigns as we speak. Policy is secondary to fundraising. Instead of meeting with the National Education Association or the United Auto Workers, politicians are booking lunches with lobbyists and fat-walleted donors.

You’re thinking, “This isn’t news, so what’s the big deal?” Here’s the deal: I’m going to tell you how we fix it.

Currently in Maine and Arizona, and selected other races nationwide, public financing is the norm for political campaigns. Candidates, instead of being backed by affluent individuals, Political Action Committees, and lobbyists, are instead only financed through public contributions, each of which is capped to a predetermined per capita limit. On current national tax forms, individuals can select to have $3 placed into a national pot to help fund presidential candidates (FYI-the first candidate to ever refuse any public funding is…President Bush). The system of public financing for local and congressional races works similarly. That amount might be raised to $5 or $10, and would then be divided up between candidates who wished to use it. It is this optional nature which makes the system constitutional.

Public financing’s positive effects are staggering. For one, it levels the playing field for campaigns. It really makes the campaigns about the issues, as candidates cannot rely on hefty donations from Special-Interest groups to pay for high-profile TV commercials and mass mailings. Each candidate’s campaign is tied tightly to the public. In addition, politicians who are elected don’t have to worry about fund-raising once they’re in office, meaning that they can get down to business. Candidates who have run these “clean money” campaigns see their approval ratings jump.

Public financing isn’t just another “only in theory” campaign finance solutions. It is THE solution. It is being implemented nationwide. Last year, Connecticut passed new public financing legislation, and in Maine over 70% of the state government was elected through public financing. It can work, it will work, it DOES work.

Want more information on how to change politics in America? I’m Kenyon’s coordinator for Democracy Matters, a nationwide institution whose goal is to implement public financing across the country. It was, in fact, a Democracy Matters chapter that helped change Connecticut’s system. Reform is not just an election-year necessity, for real reform takes time, energy, and people. Email me at starkk@kenyon.edu, or visit www.democracymatters.org. Kenyon’s chapter will be showing a recent PBS documentary on clean elections, and we also hold regular meetings, so contact me to get involved!