Nascar Stickers for Political leaders

Submitted by brad on Thu, 2006-04-20 17:47
Topic: 
Comedy
New Democracy

We all know that racecar drivers wear jumpsuits plastered with the logos of the companies that have sponsored them.

Why not have the same system for members of the legislature? When they vote on bills, they would need to wear a suit with patches from Halliburton, Exxon, AT&T or any other companies that have given them major contributions. Larger contribution, larger patch.

Ok, not going to happen, but perhaps it's less wild to suggest that as an alternative to having to register to donate money (which many people still feel is a violation of freedom of speech), we have politicians publish a list of all their donors, and the amount, for any given bill whom they feel have a special interest in the bill. They would have to say the top entries while voting, and publish a complete written list.

They would need to be liberal in listing contributors, because if a relationship were revealed later it would look bad, and possibly criminal. Ideally we would have a Caesar's Wife approach, there they make sure to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

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Comments

Moz

Fri, 2006-04-21 02:21

I, Senator Bob brought to you by Exxon-Haliburton-McDeath-Nike-Coke wish to vote on the current bill sponsored by Mcdonnell-Douglas-Oracle-Pizza Hutt but note that I have received contributions from Sony, Matsushita, LG and the RIAA in favour and Napster, Google and USPS against. The balance of contributions favours the bill so I wish to vote affirmatively.

There's also the question of identity - it's easy to form shell companies to make contributions, and I suspect you'd see even more astroturfing than you do now. "Concerned Citizens for Forest Preservation" contributed to the proponent of the "Sustainable Management of National Parks (log the lot) Bill"... a little back up the chain we find that it's a front group for a bunch of loggers. How do you make the Senators disclose the latter instead of the former?

Anonymous

Fri, 2006-04-21 08:03

Great idea. You should sponsor a photoshop contest to get the best examples. This could be alot of fun for everyone. A picture is worth a thousand words remember.

brad

Sat, 2006-04-22 12:15

Sure, I'll host a page with the best such photoshops. (Worth1000 seems to not do political stuff.) If you want to send me one, keep the size manageable, and remember that while you will have a fine fair use claim for the corporate logos or any official photo of the politician, you probably don't have one on things like professional sports photographer's shots of nascar drivers.

Doc

Mon, 2006-04-24 18:09

From Dave Barry Hits Below the Belt (2001), pp. 109-10:

2. Require Candidates to Wear Donor Logos

Have you ever watched auto races on television? Have you noticed that the drivers wear uniforms plastered with the logos of the companies that sponsor them? Has it ever occurred to you that we could do something similar with presidential candidates? That's right: We could crash them into walls at two hundred miles per hour.

No, as much fun as that would be, what I'm actually proposing is that we require candidates to wear signs clearly identifying them to hold their current set of opinions. This would clear up a lot of confusion. For example, Al Gore often passionately declared his commitment to public schools, which was puzzling, because he sent his own personal children to exclusive private junior and senior high schools. Think how much clearer the situation would have been if Al had been wearing a teachers union logo the size of a dinner plate. And imagine how much easier it would be to understand George W. Bush's environmental policies if he had an oil company sign tattooed on his forehead. You wouldn't even have to listen to what the candidates said! You could just read their logos!

Nat

Thu, 2006-04-27 12:29

Great idea Brad! Will these suits be big enough to hold all of information?

Erik

Thu, 2006-07-13 14:15

Been there, done that. :-)

A quote from wikipedia: 'The most spectacular campaign action of the party was to sell its advertising times in German television (every party participating at German federal elections gets some minutes of TV time for campaign spots for free) at eBay. As a reference to a scandal of masked advertising in public television earlier the year, the party's -mostly satirical- TV spots were presented in the corporate design of a German airline company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_PARTEI

james bond movies

Tue, 2009-03-24 02:13

Country, thanks for the news up date..I too am not a real fan of 'cat in the hat' as he doesnt seem the type of person who 'cares' about his employees..more like a SGT in Marines...pitty the development drivers who he 'gives a chance' to! My most unfavorite race is Bristol, yes I know I will take the heat over that one, but its so small, there is next to no room to pass, and has soooo many fender benders, there...now I will hear the thunder after that one!

Tiff

Sat, 2015-07-18 21:49

I know this idea came from a movie and I am having a heck of a time figuring out which one. I was thinking it was Man of the Year with Robin Williams but I am not sure.

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