This column has been discussing how political parties have left the concept of being about good government and have focused on getting power and money. No politician has offered to debate that statement and so far, all have shied away from talking about it when we bring up the subject for a discussion. Therefore, we feel encouraged to continue with the premise and shall add more grist to the political mill.

Regardless of whether the Republican or Democratic Party is in power we see the same trend. If an administration brags about lowering taxes, the politicians are quite adept at raising funds with fees, service charges, and other creative ways of picking the taxpayer’s pockets. The real answer lies in cutting spending, but that would be against the politician’s best interests.

If the taxes become too blatant, even for the gullible public, the politicians borrow the money and put our descendents in debt. The most important event in the politician’s life is his or her re-election. The party naturally does everything in its power to make sure that they gain or retain the majority in the legislative bodies and get their choice in the executive offices.

This costs a lot of money. It has often been said that we have the best government money can buy and that too, is a statement that has not been publicly debated or challenged. Elections cost millions of dollars to run, so the candidates either are extremely wealthy, or they are able to generate huge sums of money from special interest groups, businesses, unions and any other source of funding.

The groups that finance the campaigns are not really interested in good government either. They want laws passed that benefit their concerns which usually can be found on their business bottom line statements. When it comes to politics, the statement, “There ain’t no free lunch” is pretty accurate.

The campaign funding is vital for a successful run for office and in many cases, refilling the war chest begins right after Election Day. The hunt for the dollars is aided by lobbyists who “know how to repay a favor.” Some say that lobbying has made prostitution legal. Others say that some of the legislators rely on the input of lobbyists because the poor politician doesn’t understand what is in the various bills.

When the politicians get enough money in the war chest for the campaigns, some find creative ways to spend it. Some have used the money to buy season tickets for athletic events, some have paid baby sitters and many use the fund to buy tickets to events held by other politicians. It is nice to have friends who support you.

Then, when they retire, they are allowed to keep the remainder of the cash as long as they spend it for political purposes. That brings us back to that friendship thing. Is it any wonder that so many retired politicians become lobbyists? It is nice to have access to powerful legislators and executives. Influence can be expensive.

One would hope that the average taxpayer would be able to partake in these events, but the $25 fund raisers are not as often seen as they used to be. Some candidates will have little cocktail parties to get warm bodies to help with the campaign and have some money for things like postage and palm cards, but the real benefit is to recruit people to help with phone banks and do grunt work like literature drops and stuffing envelopes.

It is not unusual to see the requests for political events with charges of $100, $250, and higher. We recently saw an event that would cost a donor ten thousand dollars to be able to attend and speak with the candidate. The people who shell out that kind of money must really care about good government. Or, maybe they have other motives for their generosity.

Some candidates talk about change. And that is what it is. Talk! Change will come only if the voters will actually insist on change by not voting for the major party candidates. It is long overdue to vote principles over politics. We get the government we deserve.