Last Wednesday’s Washington Post reported on the newest fad in political campaigns: "contributions by kids". Back in 2004 the slogan was "Rock the Vote." The slogan this year might more appropriately be "rock the cradle."
While it appears that Barack Obama wins the prize for youngest contributor (a two-year old), youngsters are contributing to candidates of both parties.
What is really fun, though, is not the age of the contributors but the explanations their parents gave for the contributions (for some reason, none of the youthful contributors explained their contributions themselves):
- The Post reported a 13-year old contributor to Mitt Romney’s campaign "used money from his bar mitzvah and money he earned ‘dog sitting,’" according to his mother. His 15-year old sister "used babysitting money to make the contributions, their mother said. ‘My children like to donate to a lot of causes.’"
- The father of a 7-year old contributor and 8-year old contributor to Obama, explained, "My children are very engaged in politics."
- The mother of two young contributors to Bill Richardson (a 10-year old and 16-year old) said, "We just support him."
When are the supporters of campaign finance reform going to admit that it is hopeless? You can pass all the laws you want, but people will find a way to contribute, and candidates will take the money – at least until the media finds out about it.
Let’s stop setting limits on campaign contributions that make our candidates and politicians into law evaders, if not lawbreakers. Let’s be honest. Let’s get rid of the phony limits and just require immediate disclosure. I think the voters are smart enough to figure it out. If they aren’t, then all the limits in the world, limits that are too often evaded in any case, aren’t going to help.
[10/31/07: Added link to Washington Post story.]
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