Politics and money

By Mixter

Wednesday, November 09, 2005 at 01:46 PM

Some of you may know this, others may not, but I have announced that I am running for the Wisconsin State Assembly in Fall 2006.

I'm throwing my hat in for a couple of reasons, but one of my biggies is this: Campaign Finance Reform.

This is supposed to be a Republic.  People are supposed to be elected by the people to represent them on issues that matter to them.

HOW does a millionaire/billionaire represent little ol' you and me?

Take Bloomberg, for instance.  How many MILLIONS of his own money did he spend on his campaign?  That is insane.  He bought himself the title of Mayor of NYC.

I'm running to represent a little hunk of Wisconsin with a lot of good, honest, hard-working people.  I don't have a ton of personal finances that I can throw into this campaign.  I'm going to have to raise a barrel of money to even have a chance of beating the incumbent.  But I'm serious about this.  If I won't do it, WHO WILL?  But WHY should money be the deciding factor in who wins?

Already I'm getting advice about my "image" and stuff like that.  I'm a mom.  I'm a wife.  I'm a manager at a small company.  I'm CPR certified.  I WAS a Mensa member (I refuse to pay their dues just to remind myself that I'm smart!)  I'm a decent, honest, dependable, law-abiding citizen.  THAT'S the kind of person I would want to represent ME!

I don't give a flying fig how rich someone is.  In fact, the more money one has, the more out of touch that person is with us here in middle-America.  I don't need some rich guy in Congress making the laws that mean nothing to Mr. and Mrs. Average.  I want someone with more than a few working brain cells who knows what issues are out there for the middle-class, the working-class, the poor.  Corporations are STILL going to make their money.  They're not the ones who need help.

Anyway, I know I'm facing an uphill battle.  I also know that if I'm supposed to change who I am and what I stand for in order to be elected, I won't do it.  Who I am and what I stand for is WHY I should be elected.

Mixter

[Cross-posted at Mixter's Mix]