Has anyone assessed how many communications a day are either from the DNC or GOP begging for money?  We burned more money on 2012 campaigns as of yesterday than it might have cost to actually solve any one of this countries greatest problems, nearly one and a half billion dollars. That's just the reported number.  America Disclose Act is not about republicans or democrats. It's about paying government to actually govern.  I think we should give each candidate a mandatory essay, a 50 question FAQ, six glue sticks, a dozen puffy pens, 100 pounds of construction paper, and their own page on Facebook.  Then. we can put the remaining 1.49999 billion on to reducing our national debt.  It's only June.

But to further explain the value in that number, since the start of this year, parents and their children could have made sixty six million, five hundred twenty three thousand Hula Splish Splash Seahorse babies (Build a Bear stuffed toys that come with a birth certificate and full US citizenship, so technically could become stuffed Presidents of the United States.)

Dear DNC, and for that matter Dear GOP,

Please come up with ways to help the democratic process.

Show us something besides how one party can, or will, out spend the other.  Don't tell us we lost because we didn't give enough.  Really, I gave enough.  In fact, let me just say on behalf of both sides, "we gave ENOUGH".

We are losing our base, being the humane base, because we are drowning in an ocean of campaign spending.  In the meantime, when was the last time either side sent anyone a letter to donate money to support education, to integrate creative jobs programs as a means to extend unemployment, or to donate research and counseling programs to improve the effectiveness of planned parenthood?

In fact, I can’t remember the last time I read the connection between my party asking for money and spending it on the actual programs we're supposedly fighting for. We have an entire industry built around rumor mills and propaganda and it is entirely designed to benefit lobbyists, media and marketing professionals.  We don’t know what the commercials accomplish.  We can't tell if communication is propaganda, and if our contributions are just for some lavish hotel allowances, etc.  It's certainly true that party bashing is a national past time and there is no longer any semblance of control to limit the atrocity and grotesque level of lies seeping from both sides.

We've lost the message.

Most American's are pretty depressed by what just happened in Wisconsin and our own State, California.  Yeah, Philippe Morris spent enough money to convince 51% of voting adults that a tax on cigarettes was not in their best interest.  God Forbid we slow the rate of smoking related cancer.  Republicans can't feel too proud and Democrats are certainly bruised from head to toe.  I put many hours every single day to engaging with voters and getting education to my friends. More importantly, I take time to engage with people who are not President Obama supporters.  I ask about the issues and look for ways that we can communicate on common ground.  There are a lot of campaigns and laws that have little to nothing to do with either party. There are three branches of government.  We can find common ground in at least one.

So, DNC, or GOP, the next time you load up that email engine, how about you send some collateral that doesn't read like a gym locker note suggesting we beat up the new girl.

Where do we stand on America Disclose Act? http://www.discloseact.com/

Why did Fair Pay fail? (Here's a good article about it http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2012/06/equal-pay-measure-fails-in-senate.html)  Lilly Ledbetter Act was supposed to bring about positive change.

Why are there more abortions among girls of color, as opposed to dramatically lower numbers in the Caucasian community?  I'm pro-choice, but I still want an answer to that question.  (CDC http://www.cdc.gov/prams/ and http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/)

Why doesn't the CDC get funding to study violence as a disease?

Help me to be a fantastic Democrat.  Remind me that we are a family that can listen, be accountable and would not do what Wisconsin Republicans just did.  Explain the difference to me in a way that I could repeat, without blinking, while speaking with my republican friends.  Because if I can't say it in an intelligent crowd, and not hope that the other side has not heard, then I don't want to hear it.  Prove to me that if Scott Walker had been a democrat, he would have been asked to resign from office.

If this was a Saturday Night Live skit, we'd be watching a seven hour soccer match that had absolutely no time on the field and was entirely whistles.  No one would advance.  No one would score.  The advertisers would count their money all the way home.

Everyone is complaining about the floodgates of republican cash, but it's irrelevant to the people who are unemployed.  Ask once a day, three times a day, or as you do to me, upwards of a dozen times a day.  It won't matter.  Underemployed and unemployed people HAVE NO money. I'm middle class, or as my parents would have put it, poor.  Email me again.  Hire three more interns, so they can call me and email too.  Clearly, that strategy is working, right?

If we want to improve this country, then corporations are going to have to be held accountable to contributing to the causes of a party and not to the person they can bend to their interests.  If Koch want to donate 3 billion dollars, not a problem, let them donate to a Republican program so those dollars are spent in lieu of taxes. They could pay hospital salaries for year, for example.  If they want to do vanity contribution, fine, as long as it reduces the cost of being a citizen, I don't think anyone cares how its spent.

Stop sending me dozens of requests to put my credit card on the internet.  I am an auto spend contributor.  I use my personal resources to send announcements and to educate.  Help me with that.  When I put the  American Public Media's  Budget Hero out to EnterpriseGRC.COM readers, we engaged 60% of the traffic in a meaningful dialogue.  The decisions about our national debt transcended Republican and Democrat because we all had a shared resource that we could manipulate and compare in a real dialogue.

Send us something actionable and accountable to what we've already spent.  Tell us why our spending hasn’t worked and what we intend to do with the remaining money.

If all the information I read is fair and true, please explain how Scott Walker managed to earn 1/3 of the union vote.  Who did that?  Who’s gonna fix it.  Someone out there needs to be in a whopping time out, up in his or her room to "think about it".

Conversely, someone needs to stop voter fraud, or someone has to monitor how much of what we read is information and how much is propaganda.  Don't pretend it's one side or the other.  It's a problem in how we allow ourselves to communicate.

Maybe someone needs to send out an honest apology and regain our base.  To the Candidates out there, your fear of losing has made you evil.  Instead of being so afraid to lose, be more concerned that we have all lost, faith.  If the other side is winning with lies, focus on ways to return to printing the truth.  Stop fanning flames.  Track down and shut down the propaganda engine.  Get back to a place where we can be proud of the service provided by any elected official, because regardless of side, it is an act of service.

DNC and GOP have collected $1,463,506,887 US 2012 campaign contribution dollars, as of yesterday (June 5th).  Let me put this another way, as of yesterday $1,463,506,887, has been lost.

We needn't get too upset over this, however.  It only represents 0.009299% of our Gross National Debt.

(Facts were provided by the US National Debt Clock found at http://zfacts.com/p/461.html, YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgmfV5VLHvs and Disney Corporation, and The Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/)

Sincerely,

Robin Basham, a registered and conscious Democrat