Campaign Finance Reform

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Shannon. I am a junior at Parkway West High School and I am writing to you to express my views on campaign finance reform.

For the 2008 campaign, $1.5 billion was spent on simply advertising for the campaign. I completely understand that to win, you need to advertise as much as possible to help spread your ideas and convince people to vote for you. On the other hand, I think that it is absolutely absurd that candidates are allowed to spend that amount of money when our country has a gross debt of $15.501 trillion that is still rising today. Another issue that I would like to discuss is the fact that there are 237 millionaires in the house and the senate. That's 44% of all lawmakers. Last time I checked, the House of Representatives are supposed to be representing the people. I think it is a little difficult for millionaires to know what the middle class wants and what policies are best for us. For the people to have a true and fair representation we should have real people that understand where we are coming from and people were that have been in our situation so they can relate to us.

To help solve these issues, I am asking that you put a cap on campaigning for each candidate. Not only will this help reduce spending, but it will give each candidate an equal and fair opportunity at winning, rather than the elections being based on who spends/has more money. I think that having actual people, not millionaires, represent us would help strengthen the middle class, which you have been trying so desperately to do. Taking these plans into action will greatly improve our economy and help make America a better place to live in.

Thank you so much for your time and patience.

Sincerely,

Shannon