I'm not talking about what I did as a child. What's relevant is what I have learned from my mistakes that I made. I do not want to send signals to anybody that what Governor Bush did 30 years ago is cool to try. The vast amounts needed to support a candidate have gotten out of hand. The voting public no longer has any control over either who becomes, or, worse still, who remains a candidate.
Control resides with a few large donors, including corporations.
Thus, the average voter is robbed of real choice, which means he or she is also robbed of an aspect of freedom. The only candidates I've heard on this topic are John McCain and Bill Bradley. Only Bradley, for some time now, has advanced a plan to reform campaign finances. Let election expenses come out of the government's budget. Some such reform would go a long way toward helping the average voter feel less distrustful of the process, therefore uninterested, and, ultimately, disenfranchised.