Throwing Good Money After Bad
This morning, I looked up a history of voting in the United States. This is what I found:
- 1776 – When this country announced its independence from Britain voting rights were based on property ownership. This typically meant that those voting were white males over the age of twenty-one of Protestant religion.
- 1987- In the newly drafted Constitution, states were given the power to set voting mandates, and most were still favorable to white males who owned property.
- 1830-Many states had dropped religion and property ownership as requirements for voting and with such a large percentage of the population at the polls, political parties were beginning to develop.
- 1868-The 14th Amendment recognizes African Americans as citizens, giving them the right to vote. However, state officials continue attempts to deny this right.
- 1870-African Americans were given the right to vote in the 15th Amendment. It prohibited any state or local government from denying that right.
- 1890-Wyoming becomes the first state to recognize women’s right to vote and provide for it in a state constitution.
- 1913-Voting power is expanded with the 17th Amendment, calling for the popular election of US senators.
- 1920-The 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution, giving women across the nation the right to vote.
- 1940-Congress recognizes Native Americans as citizens. However, it wasn’t until 1947 that all states granted them the right to vote.
- 1964-The 24th Amendment declares that no person should be denied the right to vote because they cannot pay a “poll tax.”
- 1965-The amendment to the Voting Rights Act bans the use of literacy tests, poll taxes and other obstacles designed to keep people from voting.
- 1971-The voting age is lowered to eighteen.
- ~Flagler County Supervisor of Elections
I paid little attention to history in school. My feeling was that all that was in the past didn’t matter. Not my first mistake – or my last. To read this now is quite impactful. I never realized that the voting age was higher than eighteen. I became eligible to vote in 1975 and gave it no thought prior to it.
In all of this, what stands out is the poll tax.
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically ever adult), without reference to income or resources. Poll taxes are regressive, meaning the higher someone’s income is, the lower the tax is as a proportion of income: for example, a $100 tax on an income of $10,000 is a 1% tax rate, while $100 tax on a $500 income is 20%. (Wikipedia, 2024)
It is now 2024. The poll tax is outdated. But we have shifted quite seriously into taking any money we have at our disposal to promote the candidate we prefer to help determine the outcome.
The presidential election cycle begins as early as two years before the general election. (Ballotpedia, 2024)
The following table illustrates the campaign contributions to date for Donald J. Trump:
| Campaign Committee | Outside Groups | Combined | |
| Total Raised | $216,857,073 | $255,913,988 | $472,771,061 |
| Total Spent | $71,541,392 | $153,937,373 | $225,478,765 |
| Cash on Hand | $128,096,870 | $163,687,251 | $291,784,121 |
| Debts | ($33,209) | – | – |
| Date of Report | 30-Jun-24 | 21-Jun-24 | – |
~Open Secrets, 2024
I am still searching for this information for Kamala Harris. Despite being unable to locate anything as concise as what is shown above, I found numerous articles under the headline:
Kamala Harris smashes fundraising record with stunning $81 million haul over 24 hours.
To give you a comparison: Donations towards elections at the state level to date (for this campaign cycle) are at $69,657,702,854.15 (transparency USA, 2024)
The US National Debt is $34 trillion dollars which, if broken down, is $103,947 for every single person in America. (Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 2024) Even more frightening, on another site they advise that the $34 trillion is a low estimate:
US Published National Debt $34 trillion
The truth: $156 trillion
Each Taxpayer’s Share $980,000
~Truth in Accounting, 2024
If our country is close to $156 trillion in debt, should we really be throwing money at political campaigns? This next table shows total cost of elections (1990-2022)
| Cycle | Total Cost of Election | Congressional Races | Presidential Race |
| 2022 | $8,937,407,772 | $8,937,407,772 | N/A |
| 2020* | $14,403,966,687 | $8,703,050,547 | $5,700,916,140 |
| 2018 | $5,725,183,133 | $5,725,183,133 | N/A |
| 2016* | $6,511,181,587 | $4,124,304,874 | $2,386,876,712 |
| 2014 | $3,845,393,700 | $3,845,393,700 | N/A |
| 2012* | $6,285,557,223 | $3,664,141,430 | $2,621,415,792 |
| 2010 | $3,631,712,836 | $3,631,712,836 | N/A |
| 2008* | $5,285,680,883 | $2,485,952,737 | $2,799,728,146 |
| 2006 | $2,852,658,140 | $2,852,658,140 | N/A |
| 2004* | $4,147,304,003 | $2,237,073,141 | $1,910,230,862 |
| 2002 | $2,181,682,066 | $2,181,682,066 | N/A |
| 2000* | $3,082,340,937 | $1,669,224,553 | $1,413,116,384 |
| 1998 | $1,618,936,265 | $1,618,936,265 | N/A |
| TOTAL | $68,509,005,232 |
~Open Secrets, 2024
It confuses me when I think back on how many campaigns promised (on both sides of the aisle) the intention of balancing the budget. Are we to believe that all our elected officials intended to balance the budget but couldn’t quite wrap their hands around the problem and instead made it worse?
If the intent behind political donations is to put the country on track in the right direction, couldn’t we launch an initiative towards donations to settle our national debt? People (particularly people with deep pockets) are willing to throw money at a perceived problem. National Debt is a problem!
Think about it.
References:
Ballotpedia, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://ballotpedia.org/Important_dates_in_the_2024_presidential_race
Flagler County Supervisor of Elections, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://www.flaglerelections.com/Voter-Outreach/History-of-Voting
Open Secrets, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://www.opensecrets.org/2024-presidential-race/donald-trump/candidate?id=N00023864
Open Secrets, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/cost-of-election?cycle=2020&display=T&infl=N
Peter G Peterson Foundation, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://www.pgpf.org/national-debt-clock?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt4ztjvbJhwMVwBGtBh2FCh3VEAAYASAAEgLb8vD_BwE
Transparency USA.org, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://www.transparencyusa.org/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkrT3lvPJhwMVXROtBh1-_TT-EAAYAyAAEgIj6PD_BwE
Truth in Accounting, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024 from https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt4ztjvbJhwMVwBGtBh2FCh3VEAAYAiAAEgJWC_D_BwE
Wikipedia, retrieved from the world wide web on July 28, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_tax