Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post today tell us about Super PACs, “a new political weapon. . . [that] has emerged in recent weeks, allowing independent groups to both raise and spend money at a pace that threatens to eclipse the efforts of political parties.” The report says that these committies spent $4 million last week, and “are quickly becoming the new model for election spending by interest groups. . . . The super PACs were made possible by two court rulings, including one early this year by the Supreme Court, that lifted many spending and contribution limits. The groups can also mount the kind of direct attacks on candidates that were not allowed in the past.” A lot of these groups are affiliated with conservative causes, like the Club for Growth and Karl Rove‘s outfit American Crossroads, but liberal groups like Emily’s List are also players. “Groups favoring GOP candidates have outspent Democratic supporters by more than 3 to 1, mirroring an overall surge in spending by the Republican Party and its allies in recent weeks.”
Spending by Super PACs, spending by corporations, spending by lobbyists–the system is awash with money, so much of it designed to influence elections. The dirty secret is that all the money is kept inside–it goes to the politicians, to the lobbyists, to the media moguls, to the networks, to the advertising agencies and media buyers. All of it, ultimately, supports the efforts of those people to keep their jobs.
Here’s a modest proposal: let’s let voters sell their votes. If all this activity is involved in wielding economic power in order to gain political power mostly in the effort to preserve and enhance economic power, well, why shouldn’t those who have the ultimate political power share in the wealth. If BP wants my congressman to be reelected, why should my congressman and his handlers get money to attract my vote? Just let BP pay me for it.
What an amazing system that would be! On election day, I could go to the polling place and vote in the old-fashioned way. Or, some time before election day, I could go to an on-line exchange, and negotiate a price for my vote. Maybe I’ll give it to the Sierra Club for $10, but offer it to BP for $1000. Maybe I’ll sell it to the Sierra Club for $1000, and donate the cash back to them. I could sell it to a party, I could sell it to a cause, I could sell it to a comedian.
Why the hell not? The market is a ruthlessly efficient arbiter of resources. The only problem is the people can’t participate. What’s worse, they get bamboozled by candidates and interest groups, fooled with a lot of altruistic crap or negative nonsense. Why don’t we skip all this and get down to the nitty gritty and simplify the issue: I have a vote. What’s it worth to you?
What? You think this would be unseemly?
Let me ask you–what do you call what we have now?