THERE'S a heck of a lot of huffing and puffing going on at the moment about how political parties should be funded.
The lazy answer is always, of course, for them to be state funded. In the words of Maggie Thatcher, my answer to that is an unequivocal no, no, no. Afterall, I don't want my taxes going to some of the pathetic causes which masquerade as political parties these days.
No offence, I'm sure they're very nice people but do you think we should be giving money to the likes of The Church of Militant Elvis Party .
So here's my manifesto to clean up politics. Why not simply ban all party donations over £100 (in any 12 month period) and let them survive on membership fees/subscriptions. That way, any party with enough popular support would survive by sheer weight of numbers and the others would fall by the wayside. I'd say that's pretty democratic.
At least it would stop them spending millions on election campaigns. They don't need to do that - all the main parties get free broadcasting at election time and who knows this level playing field approach my attract some real grass roots activity, instead of what we have at the moment whereby the party with the most cash has an unfair advantage.
Just a thought... maybe I'm being too simplistic.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »