When You Care Just Enough to Send the Very Least

Julian Sanchez | June 22, 2003

So you'd like to swing with the big boys, snagging the ear of politicians with your prodigious campaign contributions. Except that you don't have a few spare Gs to throw around... or maybe you're not quite interested enough to spare them on politics. Enter PayDemocracy, which uses the Internet to, in effect, facilitate the formation of ad-hoc PACs. Just find a position statement that matches your own concerns (or create one, if you can't find it), and the site will aggregate tiny contributions from, well, as many people as are interested enough to make one.

It's just getting off the ground, but I dig the concept. One of the classic public-choice problems is the whole concentrated benefits/diffuse costs issue. Transaction cost obstacles to political organization are much higher for taxpayers losing a few bucks each for some massive subsidy than they are for the relatively small group that makes up the subsidized. Projects like PayDemocracy hold out at least the potential to shift the political balance of power by changing the relative transaction costs.

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|6.22.03 @ 6:12AM|#

Do opposing PAC's pay each other off and forward the difference to politicians, or send it all to the politicians? It would seem you could have a market and just send the net on to Washington, returning the rest to contributors.

Julian|6.22.03 @ 6:51AM|#

It doesn't work that way, and a couple of reasons spring to mind. The most obvious is that it'd be pretty easy to game. If I see that an opponent PAC has a $30k lead on the one I favor, I can "contribute" close to that amount with fair certainty that it'd come back. You couldn't be absolutely certain, of course, but the arrangement you're talking about would encourage people to try to nullify opposing PACs on the cheap. Alternatively, if you really DID care enough to contribute $X to a given candidate, what would prevent you from re-contributing the same amount once you'd knocked out the comparable amount from the other side and gotten it back?
Also, campaign contributions are intended, not just to directly influence votes, but also to buy access to legislators, something you don't get if you're doing the sort of thing you suggest.

Sandy|6.22.03 @ 11:59AM|#

Very cool idea, viable business plan, lousy name. The only worse one would be "buydemocracy.com". masscontribute, contributedemocracy, putyourmoneywhereyourvoteis, dunno, but it's worth hiring a marketroid for a day to think about.

What makes me shudder is that they probably did.

Wonder how long it will take somebody to astroturf it?

'course, that may be what the GWB '04 campaign on there is.

All that being said, if somebody less lazy than me wants to start a campaign to unseat the Senator from Disney and some noteable pals, I'm in for $50. The EFF is useless.

|6.23.03 @ 8:40AM|#

Another alternative would simply to allow a market in votes. I could sell my vote in a presidential election (or other election) to a candidate, PAC, or other voter. There may still be a holdout problem but forward contracts may be able to mitigate this problem.

|6.23.03 @ 9:40AM|#

Voter behavior is habitual. The behavior of interested individuals and contributors is, perhaps, less so. Based on extensive observation and a strong hunch, one must conclude that this is not a viable vehicle for mass mobilization.

mojo|6.24.03 @ 6:19AM|#

Here is a campaign relevant to the Senator from Disney (DCMA issues): http://www.paydemocracy.com/campaigns/1005

Mike|7.11.04 @ 3:31AM|#

Most years now, I simply try to ignore the hubbub surrounding the approaching holiday, sure that no expectations are better than expectations that lead to disappointment.

Secretly I dream of being the kind of woman who inspires the kind of love that would lead a man to buy a dozen roses, or a huge heart full of chocolates � or even venture to compose a poem.

But the truth is � no matter what its origins or its motivations. St. Valentine�s is about love. If you ignore it on principal, you can be certain that your loved one will not understand that. All they will see is that you didn�t care enough to send the very best.
http://www.paysites-review.com/

Melissa Harrington|7.12.04 @ 7:56AM|#

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Sorry for disturbing

credit consolidation|8.11.04 @ 8:48AM|#

Politics is the absence of morality.

Loans Consolidation|8.11.04 @ 8:50AM|#

Politics is the art of the possible.

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