Proposed Amendment | Discussion | Polemic
Section 1
This section is meant to "disenfranchise" Corporations, Unions, PACs, Foreign Governments, Political Parties, etc, as well as individuals who are not constituents of the office in question by disallowing their contributions to political campaigns. These groups have never been enfranchised, yet have become so by means of their purse strings.
Including Payments in kind was the idea of Louis Roccanova. It covers the 'loan' of private jets, 'gifts' of media time and other such contributions.
Section 2
Each voter must be of equal value to an ambitious politician and overall the amount of money wasted in political campaigns must be reduced.
Tying the maximum contribution to the minimum wage was the idea of James Mandolini. It at once removed the tie to an absolute dollar amount and introduced an elegant measure of fairness.
Alternatively, tying the maximum contribution to something other than the minimum wage, that is not assuming the existence of a minimum wage in a document supposed to be as general as our constitution, was the idea of Austin Graff. It reintroduced a tie to an absolute dollar amount, removing the absolute tie to a legal minimum wage.
The phrase "if the Congress has not set such a minimum wage" was changed to "if a minimum wage has not been set". With the passage of the NI4d it may be that the minimum wage is set by the people rather than by the Congress.
Section 3
This section is meant to keep wealthy individuals from creating a "majority of one" by pouring their own funds into an election campaign, since Section 2 will greatly increase the relative power to be had for "a few tens of millions of dollars".
Section 4
Changed from "during the calendar year of" to "earlier than one year before" to take into account early primary elections. This section is meant to free up some time for actual governance.
Section 5
Compliance with the amendment can be overseen by any interested citizen. Each candidate is personally held responsible for the necessary record keeping which shall proceed apace of the campaign itself.
Enforcing ongoing, realtime record keeping was the suggestion of Lewis A Noble.
Section 6
This section is meant to assure that primary campaign funds must also be collected and accounted for under restraint of the above and below sections and unexpended funds handed over to the treasury.
This was the suggestion of James Mandolini.
Section 7
All federal campaign financing is governed by this amendment. No one but the candidate may solicit, accept, or expend funds on behalf of his or her campaign; and each candidate shall be held personally responsible for all such solicitation, acceptance, and disbursement.
Section 8
The idea here is that any individual may travel and campaign at his or her own expense in pursuit of a public office meeting his or her own ordinary, vital expenses without being in conflict with this amendment.
Section 9
Congress can be tougher than specified when dealing with violations of this amendment but not more lenient.