The elimination of money in campaigns. Period. Elections, like civil or military service is an example of duty, honor, and service to country—should be publicly funded, just like other such areas that are of critical importance, like Fire Departments, Police Stations or the Military. Each in the past have tried to be funded by wealthy individuals and companies and failed drastically, leading to their running for public benefit.
Public service should not be a commodity, and elected officials should not have to rent themselves out to the highest bidder in order to get into (or stay in) office. If you want to restore trust in government, remove the price tag. Money is not speech. Get rid of Citizens United. Elected officials should be beholden to their constituents and principles, not their largest funders, a task which has been made nearly impossible as the price for congressional, senate and presidential seats costing upwards of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
Elections should be about what is best for society, and presenting data driven arguments so that voters can make the best decisions, based on the available information. In order to do this, an equal platform must be created in which campaign dark money is not allowed to influence voter decisions and habits.
In the US portions of Cascadia, currently, 78 percent of Cascadians want to reduce the influence large campaign donors wield over lawmakers — including 66 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Democrats. Following with the will of the people - action must be taken to curb unlimited spending in local campaigns, with little or no oversight, or requirement for accurate information.
