<\/a>Earlier this week I received one of those odious phone calls with a political candidate asking for, you guessed it, money. I wish that solicitation calls were on the EPA watch list for harmful pollutants that damage our environment, but sadly, such is not the case.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump seems to have solved the problem of not bugging people for donations. He\u2019s simply rich and doesn\u2019t need contributions. This adds to the luster of his campaign, because not only is he \u201cun-plugged,\u201d but he also is \u201cpander-free.\u201d He doesn\u2019t have to kiss anyone\u2019s rear end to raise cash for his campaign. He has the liberty of mocking other candidates for their disingenuous and mind-numbing begging.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s current campaign slogan is \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d We might say that\u2019s a little vague and obviously subject to interpretation. He might think that a \u201cgreat America\u201d is one that does not include immigrants from any continent other than Europe. He might think that a great America is one that flexes its military might on a daily basis. But then again, he might think that a great America is one in which everyone can be like him, worth close to ten billion dollars.<\/p>\n

If that was the case, he not only would have wiped out poverty, solved the problems of the middle class, but he also would have eliminated the need for campaign finance reform. No more begging would be required. PACs and Super PACs would be a thing of the past. For those who are religious, it might be considered \u201cthe Kingdom of God on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Trump frequently has difficulty when his ideas confront reality. So whatever he brings us as a result of his campaign is likely to be somewhat less than squeezing everyone into the one percent. However, there already is and will continue to be one positive outgrowth of the Trump campaign. We will see what a campaign looks like when it is not obsessed with raising money. This seems to put more oxygen back in the air. If people like the \u201cpander-free\u201d campaign of Trump, perhaps they will give a second listen to meaningful campaign finance reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week I received one of those odious phone calls with a political candidate asking for, you guessed it, money. I wish that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32251,"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":[2119,162,16,202],"tags":[397,2459,2466],"yoast_head":"\n