Underneath the headings are content that range from desperate calls for action to heavy guilt trips to sweet requests from the candidates\u2019 mothers. No matter how hard they try, there\u2019s nothing subtle about what they\u2019re doing. They\u2019re shilling for money.<\/p>\n

I recognize that candidates require financial resources in order to run campaigns. But this is serious business and many candidates have made a sport of it.<\/p>\n

And what do they do with their winnings? Many of them take the cash and transfer them to the pockets of the makers of sleazy negative ads. The American public says that it abhors negative commercials, but people continue to donate money, which, in large part, is used for that purpose. What\u2019s more, they often believe the messages in the negative ads, meaning that they are drawn to a candidate who has raised money to be just plain nasty.<\/p>\n

The system is broken; it will not be fixed until we have public financing with clear limits on both how much candidates can spend and for what purposes. We\u2019re a long way from that, particularly with today\u2019s Supreme Court and Congress. So, like others who are interested in politics, I may well be donating to various campaigns. Let me suggest two criteria for donating:<\/p>\n

1. The candidate really needs it; they are not swimming in money.<\/p>\n

2. The money will not be used for negative ads or other forms of distortion.<\/p>\n

My ideal contribution will go to a low-profile progressive who needs to inform the public of his or her candidacy. He or she will run a clean campaign, and hopefully the public will see the contrast between him or her and his or her likely opponent. For better or for worse, I probably won\u2019t be giving much in the near future. When the end of each calendar quarter comes, I\u2019ll be both frustrated and amused. I won\u2019t be persuaded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31 are the most important dates of the year to most candidates running for office, other<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162,29,273,77,10,573],"tags":[750,651],"yoast_head":"\n