WHY I DIDN’T CONTRIBUTE TO ALEX SINKS’ CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN IN FLORIDA (Even though I deeply desi

WHY I DIDN’T CONTRIBUTE TO ALEX SINKS’ CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN IN FLORIDA

(Even though I deeply desire a Democratic Congress!)

By Annie Brock

My inbox is full each morning and into the night with pleas from progressive political entities and super pacs for financial help. MoveOn.org, The Democratic Congressional Caucus, the Democratic Party, Progressives United, Credo, Inc., and even President and Mrs. Obama themselves all plead for my financial contribution and help. “Help us fight the avalanche of Republican money coming into this state or the other to defeat progressive candidates.” “The Koch brothers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on negative ads; we must meet the challenge.” “Tonight is the absolute last deadline!” I do not respond. Delete. Delete. Delete.

I am already a regular donor to MoveOn.Org and to the DCCC. Every month, they are authorized to draft my bank account a small set amount I have designated to support their efforts to keep America progressive. But I do not donate to out of state congressional races.

Why not?

Because I think every state, and frankly every candidate, should stand on its, his or her own two feet. Out of state money for either candidate skews the election in such a way that the winner of the election can no longer represent his or her constituents; he or she must now represent the big out of state donors who artificially created and affected his or her election.

Why not contribute to turn a red seat in Florida to a blue seat when a blue seat will literally make our progressive President’s life a little easier?

Because I need to be able to trust Florida to know its own mind and to vote accordingly. I need to be able to trust Florida voters to care enough about their own futures to care about who wins that election and to work for and contribute to their chosen candidate themselves. And I need to be able to trust the Florida Democratic Party to do its own work with Florida donors, Florida volunteers, Florida assets. If Floridians can’t do it themselves, on their own, with no outside influences, then that Congressional seat is no longer a Florida seat. It is something else. It is either the Republican Party’s seat or the Democratic Party’s seat. It is either the Koch Brothers’ seat or MoveOn.Org’s seat. It is a national seat rather than a local seat. It loses its purpose and its power to properly represent the voters back home. It becomes a part of a block of votes designed to score political points.

So I don’t donate. I don’t participate. I refuse to be a part of what I find to be a corrupt system.

But what, you may ask; do we do about the Koch Brothers? What do we do about other out of state donors who don’t feel quite so principled as I do right now?

We ban outside money. We protect Freedom of Speech, but we demand that it be the speech of those in the state and the district from which those candidates are being elected. We say to super pacs and political parties: Show us the money. Show us where it comes from, who gives it, what strings are attached. Make your gifts transparently Floridian, and you can donate all you want. But no out of state money. This seat will be won fairly and squarely by the candidate who can reach the most Floridians with his Floridian message with Floridian money. And then that elected official owes his election, his job, his benefits to no one but his own neighbors, his fellow Floridians, his constituents. He’ll be a much better representative for it, and the election process will be a little cleaner and less troublesome for us voters.

And I won’t have to feel guilty about not helping Alex Sinks win that damned Congressional seat for the Democratic Party!

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