Smart, capable, experienced people are NOT running for public office in the US. If you’re watching the madness of our elections from the outside and wonder how we got the cult trying to illegally keep Trump in office, this is how. A thread. /1
First, running for local office is expensive, time-consuming, and pays terribly. If you need a job to support your family, and don’t have a partner to support you, public life below the federal level will be extremely challenging. /2
Say you decide to run for office anyway. Do you have multiple friends right now who will write you checks for a couple hundred dollars? If not, you can’t get even buy lawn signs. If you can’t buy lawn signs, no one will know who you are. /3
If no one knows who you are, you will lose your election. /4
We get better politicians by regulating money. It’s not rocket science. Fund campaigns publicly and/or enforce strict campaign finance laws and US elections would change overnight. /5
The problem in the US is that as long as a cash-poor 2nd grade teacher is pitted against someone who inherited their father’s millions, the people will continue to lose. Change how politics in the US are financed or else don’t bother. /6
I raised $10,000 from every single aunt and uncle I know to run for City Council in a city of 100,000 people and against all odds I won. This is very important: mine is not a success story; I am an outlier. /6
My partner made enough $$ to feed our kids while I knocked doors, and continues to make enough to clothe and educate them while I serve in public office. On City Council I make $600/month which doesn’t even pay for the 2yo old’s childcare. /8
That’s the system most of us are up against. I am the only person on my City Council with young kids and the youngest full stop by over 20 years (out of 11 people). Why? Because our pay is nonsense compared to modern expenses. /9
If you don’t want to be governed solely by millionaires/retirees, this is your problem too. Freezing a Council’s pay for 22+years might at the outside appear ‘fiscally responsibly,’ but in reality it privileges the already-rich. /10
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