{"id":34125,"date":"2016-10-26T15:47:22","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T13:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=34125"},"modified":"2016-10-26T15:56:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T13:56:28","slug":"politics-and-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/politics-and-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics and Money"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

In the US, if we want to encourage democracy, we must limit the length of campaigns and take money out of the process. \u00a0\"clinton-and-trump\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the formation of exploratory committees until the inauguration of the next president, the American election frenzy lasts about two years, a vast majority of which is spent talking about little of substance. Along the way, the U.S. spends more than\u00a0every other country in the world. HIllary Clinton’s campaign could cost 2 billion dollars.<\/p>\n

What’s even worse is that the exceptional amount of time and money doesn’t produce an engaging democratic process. The U.S. ranks near the bottom\u00a0in terms of voter participation when compared with other developed nations. Issues like obstacles to voter registration and the ability to simply get to the polls without missing work contribute to strikingly low turnout in the world’s most powerful democracy.<\/p>\n

None of this is inevitable, and some of these problems could be easily fixed. Here’s a brief look at some practices in other democracies that the U.S. could learn from, if not replicate:<\/p>\n

l. \u00a0The longest Canadian campaign was 10 weeks.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0In the UK, political parties can only spend $30 million in the year before an election.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0In Germany, political parties release just one 90-second television ad.<\/p>\n

4. In 2013, over two-thirds of income to Norway’s political parties came from the government.<\/p>\n

Many countries successfully use public financing of campaigns as a way of regulating their cost and relieving the need for reliance on wealthy donors. 5. Voter registration is automatic in Sweden.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Voting is compulsory in Australia.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the US, if we want to encourage democracy, we must limit the length of campaigns and take money out of the process. \u00a0 From the formation of exploratory committees until the inauguration of the next president, the American election … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t