Cy's Two

All this garbage we see and hear about how our two major political parties finance campaigns is enough to make you sick. It reminds us of a food fight. The more they throw on each other, the more they splatter on themselves.

Have they no shame? Since both parties appear equally guilty of betraying the moral trust put in them by us common citizens, you would think they'd hide their faces, retire to one of those smoke filled (Oops!) rooms, and quietly admit to each other they haven't been putting the good of the country ahead of getting elected.

Then they would shake hands, set down and not come out until they had writen some decent campaign finance laws. For starter, we suggest laws that would:

1. Outlaw political action committees and contributions to a campaign by anyone other than a person qualified to vote for a candidate or issue.

2. Allow no more than a single contribution by any one voter of more than $100 to any single race or candidate.

3. Outlaw contributions to the campaign by anyone living outside the area to be represented by the elected person or affected by the results of the election.

4. Completely outlaw contributions by corporations and labor union (I almost choked on that one, but it would be worth it if we could keep out corporate donations.)

5. Completely outlaw contributions by foreign countries, corporations registered in foreign countries or headed by persons not citizens of our country.

6. Require that all leftover campaign funds be turned over to the government general fund when a candidate leaves office.

7. Outlaw paid lobbying by a candidate after he leaves office.

8. Require the U.S. Government to confiscate any money paid by a foreign country to a candidate after he leaves office.

Don't hold your breath for any corrective action by either political party -- campaign donations have become the opiate of political parties and candidate.

Cy is a locomotive engineer at Fort Worth