Buying Votes

"... since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters' own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians."

Milton Friedman, 1985

What is more, it may be argued that politicians spend money that they borrow to fulfill their promises, leaving future generations to pick up the tab.

Milton Friedman

"The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system."

Milton Friedman

Sales, marketing and public relations, disciplines that evolved in the capitalist system, are crucial to winning elections in our party political representative democratic system. They require capital and thus rich people and organisations have more political power than individuals. Their capital, greed and raw self interest skew the political system. Can democracy be developed so that greed does the least harm? Interactive Democracy switches a good deal of power away from cash and converts it into individual votes, spent frequently. Sure, cash will be spent to persuade us of an issue, but the deal will be far more transparent than is the case today.

"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so
essential to preserving individual freedom."

Milton Friedman

Interactive Democracy, a free market of ideas, purchased with votes which are equitably distributed amongst the electorate, adds to our individual freedom of expression and self determination.