Another big campaign is gearing up. We will be hammered day and night with facts, lies, and everything in between. The parties may get their funding from different sources but IN the end they ARE USED FOR THE SAME PURPOSE: TO HAMMER US WITH THEIR COMMERCIALS NON-STOP.

WHILE I have not seen the total figure anywhere IN PRINT, THE AMOUNT SPENT ON THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN for 2004 has to be around 1 billion dollars or more. President Bush's and Senator Kerry's campaign, MUST SURELY spent around 500 million apiece. Talk about big business. THESE FIGURES really look big to me.

AND who benefits from this $1 billion? THE MEDIA IN GENERAL AND TELEVISION IN PARTICULAR. AND who keeps the game on track, GOING to great lengths to dig up DIRT, flesh out FACTOIDS, start rumors, OR ALLOW THEM TO PERSISIT UNCHALLENGED on each candidate? The Media. FOLLOWED BY the ad money to set the record straight. Get my point? It's big, big business, these campaigns.

AND how about the polls? MANY of them are done by big media companies. QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED in SUCH a way as to SKEW THE ANSWER OF THE RESPONDENT. The polls are just coming up with THE ANSWERS THE POLL TAKERS desire. The closer the race, the better CHANCE each candidate HAS OF GETTING the maximum money from supporters FOR, GUESS WHAT, MORE ADVERTISING! How OFTEN HAVE election results been quite different from WHAT WAS PREDICTED BY the polls? POLLING IS NOT THE INDEPENDENT PRESENTATION OF VOTERS' OPINIONS BUT IN FACT, ACTUALLY SHAPES VOTERS' OPINIONS.

ONCE ELECTED do you really think that any of these candidates would do, for the most part, things that matter to you, or will they do the things that matter to the big corporations, labor unions, powerful organizations, or individuals who have given them millions OF DOLLARS in support. You figure that OUT and vote for your man or woman and say "I did my duty, I can't do any more".

You know something? YOU CAN. Yes, you and I can, and the majority of the common people of this country CAN do something. Not by griping like I have been, but by letting everyone know that we are fed up. Let all of our Senators and Representatives know, "hey - if you don't put a real cap on this campaign spending, YOU ARE gone come next election because we will find someone who will".

A cap ALSO needs to be put on the U.S. Senate and House campaigns.The Wilson - Madrid ads where a nightmare, just piled on top of one another. They are starting to get out of hand where only the wealthy can run, or A CANDIDATE HAS to be supported by some kind of big money. How about letting each Presidential candidate spend, say a total of 30 million DOLLARS and state wide candidates maybe 1/2 million apiece. Have each donation limited to $100 or less. We don't care where it comes from as long as it is legal, grandma or one dollar donations. Have very strict records kept and once that amount is spent, that's it. The above figures and methods would need much refining, but make certain that there are no provisions for loop holes put in. We JUST might find out who really is the best manager of our nation's tax dollars.

Some people have told me that what I am suggesting is unconstitutional. I do believe that if this campaign spending is left unchecked, it won't matter if we have a constitution or not. Let's get this started SO we can do something about the election in 2008. I have access to over 900 newspapers across the nation through one of my web directories. The web is a very powerful way to get things like this started. So to start the ball rolling, I am willing to use space on a website at http://wedirectyou.com/limit as a point of contact. My email is jp@cybermesa.com. So let me know what you think. I know there are a lot of people who feel as I do. Each one of us alone is unheard and unseen. But together, you bet we will be seen and heard. So let's start contacting these people and let them know how you feel.