I disagree with this…

"The politicians would still know who was electing them, and who they needed to pander to in order to get re-elected."

With a publicly funded campaign…how would they "know" who paid to elect them?

And everybody knows Obama violated his own stand on public campaign financing. You don't need to be an apologist for him. That horse is out of the barn. No amount of spin will put it back.

My attitude toward public campaign financing has become more favorable over the last several years, for some of the reasons you mentioned, but I wonder whether it would even make a difference. The politicians would still know who was electing them, and who they needed to pander to in order to get re-elected. I think term limits is a better way to go. That might go further toward eliminating the corruption. If we implemented that, we might have more statesmen and fewer power-hungry egomaniacs in office.

In a publicly financed campaign system, the political candidates could still be advocated for by groups and individuals. Those groups and individuals just couldn't finance the candidate's election campaign. There are already contribution limits in place that have withstood court review.

Quid….man, the fox has been running the henhouse and eating the chickens for a long, long time. You're just a bit confused about the identification of the fox.

Political speech should be entitled to the highest protection. Laws that prohibit or limit my ability to contribute to candidates I favor limit my First Amendment rights and are unconstitutional. Laws that prevent me from contributing to an organization that opposes candidates that I oppose limit my right to seek redress from the government for grievances.

To require government financing of political campaigns is to invite the fox into the hen house.

McCain, a recipient of the "Americans hate Bush and thus, Republicans" reality, couldn't raise enough money to compete with Obama. That made it convenient for McCain, and his magpie repeaters, to make an issue out of some state questionaire Obama filled out, one of the questions being about public financing.

Quid accuses me of espousing…

"we can't have citizens involved in speaking out on the merits of candidates."

Something I never said. The biggest danger in America today, to Americans that is, is the control huge corporate interests have over federal decisions. Politicians refuse to do the will of the people, instead, because of those corporate contributions, they do the will of a handful of powerful and wealthy people. Take the contributions out of the equation and the capitalistic greed factor for politicians is diminished….making it possible for them to consider the will of the people.

Is it that public financing, like the public option in health care reform, is just too sensible?

That is also why conservatives tend to favor free speech and liberals tend to favor its limitation. The Reverand's support for public (read "taxpayer") financing of campaigns which would make it "completely illegal for anyone to donate to a federal candidate's campaign" is consistent with his efforts to limit free speech and the Bill of Rights.

In the Reverand's world, we can't have citizens involved in speaking out on the merits of candidates. It is so much better if the Government (read "incumbents") control campaign speech and the spending on campaigns. This avoids messy surprises.

Hello, OBAMA is the one who broke his public campaign financing pledge. McCain ACCEPTED IT.

I really hate it when stupid ass liars post stupid ass bullspit. Just STOP. We've had enough horsecrap. You are the biggest liar I have ever encountered.

I would have thought the happiness of big pharma was the goal of conservatives republicans like King

" U.S. regulators should consider breaking up large financial institutions considered “too big to fail,” former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJ8HPmNUfchg

Conservatives haven't been supportive of public campaign financing. Democrats have been spineless. Both Obama and Dick Durbin made it clear that, right now, banks own the government. How can this be stopped? Public campaign financing. Make it completely illegal for anyone to donate to a federal candidate's campaign. Pay for the campaigns with tax dollars…..and we'll be much better off, it will be exponentially cheaper for all Americans.

That's not going to happen because 1) most all conservatives do not want it, and 2) Democrats are on the upswing and don't want to crash their own majority party.

What's a 230+ old democracy to do?

Why would I want Americans to be fleeced by big companies? The Dems are the victims here. They are blindly following the very people that are fleecing them. Koresh style. Obama is keeping true to his promise, he is transparent about it and doing it right to your face. Goldman Sachs, AIG and the other "too big to fail" conglomerates are Dem Party supporters. Your party memebers like Dodd and Frank and Pelosi are shoving this right in your face and you are not protesting because you are in awe of your messiah. Do you no longer care about the size of the executives bonus'? Probably not, because Obama's in charge.

But big pharma is happy.

I would have thought that that was a good thing

Has anyone noticed how the dollar is crashing? The DOW is smoke and mirrors as is the price and value of gold and the S&P as well as most economic indicators. All to make Obama look good. Watch CNBC and Bloomberg and see what the executives(not the host, they are full of sh*t) of our remaining enterprises are saying. AIG sure is thanking him and us the American taxpayers. Sorry a little of the subject, but this whole thing is a big facade. Our economy is just as bad if not worse now than it was a year ago and they are doing nothing to stop it. Healthcare and Cap and Trade will make us Europe all over again. Let's keep printing money to pay for a healthcare promise that isn't even written yet. Next up, inflation and about 5 million more jobs lost over the next year.

Has anyone noticed how the dollar is crashing? The DOW is smoke and mirrors as is the price and value of gold and the S&P as well as most economic indicators. All to make Obama look good. Watch CNBC and Bloomberg and see what the executives(not the host, they are full of sh*t) of our remaining enterprises are saying. AIG sure is thanking him and us the American taxpayers. Sorry a little of the subject, but this whole thing is a big facade. Our economy is just as bad if not worse now than it was a year ago and they are doing nothing to stop it. Healthcare and Cap and Trade will make us Europe all over again. Let's keep printing money to pay for a healthcare promise that isn't even written yet. Next up, inflation and about 5 million more jobs lost over the next year.

"Finally, in a move as breathtakingly accommodating of the insurance industry as was the multi-trillion-dollar bailout financial bailout of Wall Street’s biggest banks, they proposed to require (on pain of a $3800 fine by the IRS) to require everyone in America to buy a health insurance plan from the private sector—a gift to the industry of some 40-50- million new unwilling customers.

But a combination of public outrage at this forced program of insurance and recognition that the inevitable government subsidy of low-income insurance buyers would be humongous has led Congress to backtrack, and start backing away from the mandatory aspect of this plan.

And now the private insurance industry, not satisfied that it has managed to practically dictate the terms of the health reform legislation so fare, and angry that it might not get those 40-50 million new forced customers, is reportedly threatening to turn around and knife the president and the Democratic Congress in the back."

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10132009.html

Less Than One in Ten Malpractice Cases Results in a Legal Claim for Compensation
The CBO's Flawed Report on Medical Malpractice

http://www.counterpunch.org/nader10142009.html

I suppose I could try it, but I might need some electroshock therapy first.

Second…if the fines were raised, something the insurance companies wanted, then conservatives would argue the higher fees were part of a wider scandal of Democrats bent on enriching themselves on the backs of real Amuricans. So, whattya do?