Spending more money, better?

“Vote or Die.” The campaign used by Hollywood celebrities such as Paris Hilton and
Sean Combs radiates with the power of the people in a democracy. Children of all ages look up to celebrities for the fame and money pouring out of each of their pockets regardless of the fact that many of the celebrities who sported the slogan decided they were too busy to actually vote. Democracy is a “form of government in which the supreme authority rests with the people,” William McClenaghan explains in American Government, a high school textbook. Regardless of how much money is being spent on campaigning across the nation, the people of the United States of America continue to have the choice to vote. The amount of money spent on campaigning should not have an effect on democracy in this country but subconsciously, American’s have a tendency to remember money.
The question still stands, is spending an immense amount of money on campaigning good or bad for democracy? Seeing how big names with big money are following presidential hopefuls for the first time this year, along with a rise in the amount of registered voters, the fact is clear; voters follow money. Though money captures the attention of a wider range of people who are able to vote and brings people to campaign events, many people who attended a speech by Oprah Winfrey supporting Barack Obama as president admitted to only attending to see the world renowned daytime talk show host. Pouring money into campaign slogans and other eye-catching buttons and signs may drawl attention to your name but will hurt democracy in the long run. Psychologists have studied voting for decades and have discovered the tendency of voters to vote for the name they recognize or simply the last name they saw before they went behind the curtain to vote. The more signs put up around town with the candidate’s name on it forces more people to think about the name and commit it to memory but does give any idea as to how that same candidate feels about abortion or the Iraq war. Money will not force someone to research a candidate’s views but does have the power to subconsciously cause a person to vote for a certain candidate. A true democracy cannot survive with money directly controlling votes, subconsciously or directly, through bribes or gimmicks.
Over the last 20 years, with a rise in campaign spending, while attention is brought to the necessity in voting, democracy has been changed forever. A true democracy allows the voters to decide for themselves who they are to vote for. Voters should have the ability to listen to debates and read what a candidate has to say but without even the ability to view Obama’s web page without signing up for daily email, voters are almost being pushed away.


I wrote this a while ago for a class but thought it was a good thing to pull out of the archives.