cleavingtheether

I am a longtime follower and big fan of your work - also of the work of James Fishkin on deliberative polling. Awhile back you called for a series of citizen conventions using deliberative polling. I was always very compelled by the idea that these conventions could bring to light the views of truly ordinary citizens who have had time to educate themselves and think deeply about issues relating to the corrupting influence of money in politics. And hopefully their views would carry weight with the nation at large and bring attention to the importance of these issues.

Do you think these conventions are feasible? Do you think they would carry legitimacy in convincing the American people of the best solution to our campaign finance problems? Have you looked into how much it would cost to simply organize these privately? Have you considered pitching the idea as a sort of reality TV show to increase publicity?

Thank you and keep up all your great work!

I agree publicly financed elections sound great in concept. However, there are number of problems, including the questions you raised. The biggest problem I see is that by hard-wiring a level fundraising playing field, it actually solidifies all the other advantages that incumbents have and makes it hard for new candidates to be competitive. Solutions like Prof. Lessig's vouchers avoid this problem.