Political Contribution Reform

As my first topic of discussion, I'd like to bring up political contributions.

Let's discuss presidential campaign contributions. In the past election I didn't personally contribute to any one candidate, but I remember my parents used to get a Christmas card from George W, presumably because they contributed to his campaign at one point.

I think a Christmas card is a harmless way of saying 'thanks', but it really brings to light other questions. Someone was obviously aware of my parents political contributions because of their Christmas cards. What if they had been big contributors? Contributions to George W, the RNC, various PACs, fund-raising dinners, etc. What if they had been and still got a Christmas card. No problem with me.

What if they had given all that money and owned a pharmaceutical sales company that had important legislation coming through Congress that year. You might begin to question their motives. Now I don't have a problem that my parents are giving to people or organizations they believe in, but if they are giving to affect a vote or influence a person, that is something I can only call a BRIBE.

I am amazed that our country seems to live off these bribes. My solution to this is that there should be blind trusts for all political contributions. I'm sure you know already, but a blind trust would prohibit the candidate from knowing where the funds came from. Initially it could be setup on a national level, but if true changes are going to be made, it should filter all the way down to the local level. So my parent's hypothetical contributions would have instead gone to the George W blind trust, the RNC blind trust, various PAC blind trusts. And what about the fund-raising dinner? There wouldn't be one. No need.

Oh there are still problems with my idea. Contributions would drop by 9/10ths I'm sure. So we have one less annoying political commercial to listen to, right? Okay, a bit of jest there, but seriously, what would the issues be? Not a rhetorical question here.

I would still leave some contribution limits in place, but I would probably increase them a bit. Someone would have to administer all these blind trusts, true. But I think there would be many ways to minimize the costs associated with that. We can go into that later. Let me hear your thoughts.