Which in my opinion might be about as close as anyone has come to making a presidential disqualifying speech. But that's neither here nor there. What matters is that we don't have to watch helplessly as political insiders feast on the proceeds of what I described in my previous column as legalized bribery. Thanks to the Web, we have the ability to do something about the great fiasco of democracy that our campaign finance system has become. And there's a terrific example of an online reform effort at the home page of Public Campaign , a site whose motto is, clean money, clean elections .
Everyday citizens can learn what's wrong with the system and help fix it.
A weekly news update lets readers keep tabs on reform initiatives in several states, along with many other topics. Since presidential candidates have Web sites, you can easily pester campaign finance abusers. You can also provide some digital support for reformists. Or Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley , who has called for a prohibition of the unlimited form of campaign contributions known as soft money. The status quo has tremendous consequences for everything from health care to the environment to the our personal finances.