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Comment by kova12 | Hacker News Reader

I think his most compelling policy is not UBI, but giving the people money to spend on politics. This country is suffocated by special interests, which create draconian laws for all of us to follow just so that they can collect a little bit ore money. Just filing the taxes alone is a monumentally frustrating experience. This needs to be streamlined, but it will never be until corporations are stripped from their lobbying.

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Yes, his idea of Democracy Dollars is great. Wash out the lobbyist money and allow politicians to run a campaign on popularity without pandering to donors or special interests. Not sure why this idea hasn't gained more traction tbh.

In several states small political donations (up to $50 or so) are tax deductible. More money spent is not deductible.

I'm happy to learn that but the cap seems pretty low. :/

Half what democracy dollars are, but a good start. Check your state to see if you can take advantage of this. If you can, you have no reason to not donate (I didn't know until I did my taxes. But first time in this state).

The only real way to fix this in the U.S. is to allow rank-based voting, otherwise it is practically impossible for any third-party candidate to get elected.

So long as we have a two-party system, we will have dumbed down political policies pandering to the brainless masses with little room for innovative progressive ideas.

Anything that generates a feedback loop where politicians give you tax money to spend on politicians has an instant smell to me. There may be other ways to accomplish this, but that feedback loop stinks to high heaven on initial examination.

You might want to try a neti pot, because you seem to be missing the smell of the government giving billions to large corporation in a way that accomplishes the same feedback loop you're mentioning.

That is the way the system has been working for decades. For example, airlines have been doing stock buybacks with all their profits for the last several years, and now they don't have the money to weather 2 months of coronavirus, so they'll need a bailout. Then, watch for more stock buybacks and executive bonuses.

You're right it smells, but it's time that graft was extended to the people of this country, who will actually spend it and help the economy a bit, rather than sending it indirectly to the bank accounts of the wealthiest people in the country.

Nowhere in what I said have I defended similar feedback loops. They stink no matter what form they take, and two wrongs don't make a right.

You mean the entirety of corporate America? All those tax loopholes? Agreed, I think they stink as well.

Good thing Yang's Democracy Dollars idea has no strings attached unlike that sticky lobbyist cash.

You seem to be injecting opinions I don't hold into what I said.

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