Posts Tagged ‘contribute’
Warren Buffett: Only Individuals Contribute
on Wednesday, October 7, 2015Warren Buffett Money Quote saying in September 2000 in NY Times Editorial that only voters should finance our government election campaigns – never more than $1000 per person. Warren Buffett said:
“Let only individuals contribute — with sensible limits per election. Otherwise, we are well on our way to ensuring that a government of the moneyed, by the moneyed, and for the moneyed shall not perish from the earth” — Warren Buffett
In this quote, Warren Buffett is advocating for campaign finance reform and limits on political donations. He believes that only individuals, and not corporations or other groups, should be allowed to contribute money to political campaigns, and that there should be reasonable limits on how much each individual can donate per election.
Without such limits, Buffett warns that wealthy individuals and corporations will have an outsized influence on elections and policymaking, leading to a system where the government primarily serves the interests of the wealthy instead of ordinary citizens. In other words, he is arguing that unlimited political donations could undermine democratic governance and result in a plutocracy where a small, wealthy class wields the most power.
Teddy Roosevelt on Corporate Campaign$
on Sunday, November 30, 2014Theodore Roosevelt proposing elimination of corporate political campaign funding with the Tilman Act of 1907. Theodore Roosevelt said:
“Let individuals contribute as they desire: but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly” — Theodore Roosevelt
In this quote, Theodore Roosevelt is advocating for restrictions on political donations by corporations. The best interpretation is that Roosevelt felt corporations, as entities separate from individuals, should not be able to indirectly influence elections and policymaking through financial contributions.
He wanted donations from corporations to be “prohibited in effective fashion” for any political aims. Roosevelt believed individuals should be free to donate as they choose, but that corporations should have limits on using money to sway the political process, possibly because of concerns about undue corporate influence over government.
The overall message is that Roosevelt saw a need to separate corporate money from politics through effective donation restrictions and prohibitions.
Birthday: October 27, 1858 – Death: January 6, 1919