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To: Riskmgmt who wrote (54769)	10/24/2004 3:17:40 PM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

"the whole system in the US from the top down is corrupt" Sounds like Eliot Spitzer ;-)

To: Riskmgmt who wrote (54769)	10/24/2004 3:43:28 PM
From: Seeker of Truth	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74559

Hello Ray Smith, "The whole system in the US is corrupt." Yes it is. One basic way is through campaign contributions. Let's say I am a billionaire and I favor a certain measure, which I judge will increase my wealth, of course. You, Ray Smith, oppose this measure because of its unfairness. Both of us are free to give money to the party that is of our opinion. What do they do with the money? They spend it on television time, radio time, signs on people's lawns, anyway they can do to influence public opinion. Let's further assume that you are not a billionaire. My party then will outspend yours and, given a poor education system, the votes will swing my way. This has enormous investment significance. The corrupt politicians are not to be believed because they represent the interests of a handful, not of Ray Smith and others. So if we commence any investigation with the assumption that money has spoken we can't be as wrong as assuming that the whole system is honest, fair, unbiased, free, truly democratic. We need to bridle capitalism. All this applies to many other "democratic" capitalist countries in various degrees. Votes should work by proportional representation, i.e. seats in the legislature should be proportional to the popular vote, not all or none. Contributions to a political party should be outlawed. The government can distribute expenses to the parties in proportion to their votes in the previous election. Malcolm