Apparently politicians can’t get their stories straight. So there are “fact checkers” who go through every speech by every candidate and point out the places the speaker fudged the facts to make themselves and their party look better. Sometimes the fact checkers point out where a political candidate outright lies. Really? Politicians lie? Oh, and the really really lucky fact checkers got to check anything Michelle Bachman said for historical accuracy.

Why are politicians fudging the facts? Why do they say anything they can so they get elected? Because they have to damn much money to use for their campaigns!

Seriously, cut out corporate funding of politicians (sorry Target, I don’t want you in my uterus) and any money for campaigning will go for things that are true and that they need to say to get elected.

Better yet, let’s give each politician a campaign stipend. The amount of the stipend will be proportionate to the office being sought. That means the local politician interested in being my state representative gets a much smaller stipend than the people headed to Washington which is still much smaller that the stipend given to the people running for President.

No more millions. Let’s give Presidential candidates $5,000. That will cull all the bullshit we are being fed.

I want an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with actual goals of a Presidential candidate. What do they actually stand for? How will they accomplish this?

Senators and representatives will get a much smaller stipend. And it’s reduced at re-election time if they didn’t actually follow through on what was promised. If they spent their time on Capitol Hill filibustering and not passing one god damned actual bill and not passing an actual budget, they are penalized.

This will allow the fact checkers to stay in business because they will need to grade each politician.

Think of the things that our country could do with the money that is wasted in political adds each election cycle. We could probably cure cancer with the money rich people and corporations pour into electing another puppet they can manipulate on Capitol Hill. Hey, AT&T keep your money out of politics and figure out how to get me more monthly bandwidth!

Yes, it’s simplistic. But that’s the beauty of this* system. There’s no room for fudging and lying. Get the facts straight or pay the price.

*I am totally stealing these ideas from conversations I have had with friends–namely Kelly and Jim.

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