Trial balloon

[oddlots]

Just a thought (and I can't believe I'm the only one to think of this) but what if a law was proposed that forced all politician's to sport the kind of race gear worn by NASCAR drivers:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/phot...15/labonte.jpg

You could also force the "sponsors" to pay for new livery for their limos.

Or maybe someone just needs to create a web platform - a bit like blingee (see link) - that would take a picture of the congressman and render them with appropriately sized logos (based on contributions) on NASCAR style clothing.

What d'ya think?

Blingee: http://blingee.com/

[fliped42]

Re: Trial balloon

Just a thought (and I can't believe I'm the only one to think of this) but what if a law was proposed that forced all politician's to sport the kind of race gear worn by NASCAR drivers:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/phot...15/labonte.jpg

You could also force the "sponsors" to pay for new livery for their limos.

Or maybe someone just needs to create a web platform - a bit like blingee (see link) - that would take a picture of the congressman and render them with appropriately sized logos (based on contributions) on NASCAR style clothing.

What d'ya think?

Blingee: http://blingee.com/

Great Idea!

[due_indigence]

Re: Trial balloon

Brilliant! I love it.

[sunskyfan]

Re: Trial balloon

Sounds good ... or the kind of disclaimer that CNBC puts on analyst. Such as "This Senator owned by Cigna, Boeing, and AARP".

[ggirod]

Re: Trial balloon

There are alternatives for those who want a bit more nuanced presentation of the information than just badges. Badges fail to show the true story because much of the money comes from PACs and special interest groups that provide indirection; obscuring the corporations that provide it. In addition there is the very important money spent to smear the opposing candidates or the punitive money spent to support opposition if the vested interest is disappointed or the bet hedging money to both candidates so no matter who wins, the donor wins.

So, in the meantime, until Congress passes a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" bill that marks virtuous candidates as beholden to nobody but the voters, maybe just using and supporting the Center For Responsive Politics and their OpenSecrets.org website would help. Go ahead, click the link. Pick a congresscritter and see who bought their votes. Keep an eye on them as issues come up and observe how they vote versus how they were funded. Note how much a committee position gets one in focused donations ... it is almost a license to print money. Overall, it is quite an entertaining pastime and the source of loads of interesting cocktail discussion.

"Oh, So and So ... did you know that a really big supporter was Acme Finance? Now you know why they voted as they did." In fact, maybe people could start discussing legislation like they do football or soccer games, predicting the outcomes based on stats of the players, coalitions, and parties. Imagine the competition over beers watching the votes on CSPAN in the bar ... Like baseball, stats from previous elections could be quoted and argued in intricate detail. Partisans cheering or booing the votes and others quoting who owned whose votes and why the play came out as it did

In fact you may see how a little monetary leverage carefully applied can totally subvert the two party system and get *just enough* people in a party to turn tail on their compatriots or to support a bill that goes against their party's platform. That's how the really important (to TPTB) legislation is passed. It is best if neither party has control since then the only significant stuff that can be passed is that which has strong monetary support of a bipartisan majority.

Now, badges might work at demonstrations combined with unflattering renditions of the hated candidate with their financial support badges, but, like soundbites and talking points, they simply cheapen our democracy, simplify the complexity to meaninglessness, and strengthen the oligarchs.

[oddlots]

Re: Trial balloon

There's quite a funny Canadian political commentator called Rick Salutin who floated the idea that the business pages of the newspaper should be read (in fact should be written) in the same manner as the sports pages. Same vein of thought.

Re: cocktail party coversations... errr could you invite me to some of those. I seem not to be running in the right crowds. Personally most of what I've gleaned from itulip and elsewhere will clear a room quicker than [shudder and insert subject.] Where I live - America Junior - people still talk about real estate... positively. Needless to say I don't go out much.

I take your point about Open Secrets. But my thought process was provoked by this image I posted earlier on another thread:

"Grillo led the demonstration in Bologna, appearing in the Piazza Maggiore, the city’s largest public space, before a crowd of about a hundred thousand—more than had congregated there when Italy’s soccer team won the World Cup the year before. He wore jeans, sneakers, and a long-sleeved black polo shirt, and stood on a stage flanked by tall black panels decorated with blood-red “V”s. Behind him, against a cloudless sky, rose the crenellated Renaissance city hall with its squat clock tower. A large screen had been erected there, projecting the names of twenty-four convicted criminals currently serving as senators and representatives in the Italian parliament, or as Italian representatives in the European Parliament. Grillo read the names aloud, in alphabetical order, together with their crimes, which ranged from corruption, perjury, and tax evasion to more inventive infractions, such as fabricating explosive ordnance and aiding and abetting a murder. The crowd booed and jeered, raising their index and middle fingers in a V, for victory, or, whenever Grillo cried “Vaffanculo,” their middle fingers alone.

"In addition to the twenty-four convicted legislators on Grillo’s list, another fifty-seven are appealing guilty verdicts, have been pardoned, have escaped conviction owing to a statute of limitations, or are currently under investigation. These include some of the most powerful figures in Italian politics, among them Giulio Andreotti, who was Prime Minister seven times between 1972 and 1992, and Silvio Berlusconi, the former Prime Minister, who is probably the most investigated head of state in postwar European history. “Italy is a tough country to be a comedian in—I can’t invent stuff like this,” Grillo said on V-Day. “Nearly eighty crooks in parliament—that’s about one crook in twelve. It’s worse than Scampia, the most dangerous Naples slum, which is infested by the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. There the criminals are only one in fifteen!”

It's from a profile of a reform-minded comedian in Italy here:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...a_fact_mueller

I was just struck by the idea that Grillo could get 100 k people out on the street partially because he's funny.

You can topple the mighty with seriousness occasionally ("Have you no shame Sir") but I wonder if comedy and satire isn't better suited to the cause.