The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 18)

Mark L. Saleman br> Flushing, New York /p>

You must have been reading my mind. I, too, have been wondering where "dignity" has gone in this election process. So I did some investigating and came up with one clue that maybe the Fed Gov should stop subsidizing the primaries and conventions and then maybe we'll go back to the way it was done before the 1970s reform process was put in place.

I wonder if the average taxpayer realizes that the Republican and Democratic candidates who win their parties' nominations for President are each eligible to receive a grant to cover all the expenses of their general election campaigns. The basic $20 million grant is adjusted for inflation each Presidential election year. In 2004, the grant was $74.62 million. And that each major political party may receive public funds to pay for its national Presidential nominating convention. The statute sets the base amount of the grant at $4 million for each party, and that amount is adjusted for inflation each Presidential election year. In 2004, the major parties each received $14.592 million.

First, that adds up to a lot of taxpayers dollars. But to me, more importantly, each party is essentially funding the other's campaigns and conventions!!!

I think the Party Financing Reform Bill needs to be reformed again. Then maybe we won't have to be subjected to this seemingly endless barage of early primaries and non stop commercialism of the candidates. Without worrying where the financing of the party comes from leaves plenty of free time to hurl insults and barbs at each other.

I'm not that old, but I long for the days of "good old politics" when respect and dignity were the bywords of both parties. I used to enjoy to have a good debate with a Dem because at the end we'd both walk away still respecting each other opinions.

p>In this age of information maybe there is such a thing as TOO much information. br> -- Joan Moriarty br> Pine Plains, New York /p>

I would like to associate myself with Mr. Tyrrell's call for political conventions that actually mean something, that actually are determinant of the nominee of the two parties. I remember well, and fondly, the conventions of 1952 and 1960, and also of 1976 and 1980. I often wonder, if the 1976 convention had picked Reagan over Ford, would we have had to endure Jimmy Carter? Of course Ford was the sitting, if unelected, President. It would have been an heroic task to deny him the nomination. Heck, maybe the TV would go back to covering the whole event, and the American voters might even go back to watching said TV coverage.

I do not necessarily agree with Mr. Tyrrell's assessment of the GOP race as lacking in dignity and John McCain as the most dignified of the bunch, but the call for meaningful conventions is a much needed change. I believe that the positive effects on the POTUS campaign process enunciated by Mr. Tyrrell would indeed follow. I blame the media and political pundit class as much as the politicians, political activists, and state Chambers of Commerce for the way the campaigns are run now. It made it easier for the media to cover they whole thing as a horse race, and an exercise in reporting polls. It also allowed them to inject themselves as arbiters, soothsayers, and the stars of the show, instead of the actual candidates being the stars of the show.

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