The corrupting influence of big money is infecting our democracy. In the US Republican Primaries, media stories about how much money each candidate has raised seem to outnumber stories about issues. Today, Newt Gingrich received a five million dollar contribution from a billionaire casino owner. Barack Obama is sitting on a war chest of 155 million dollars and expects to raise 750 million dollars for his reelection campaign.
Who is donating all this money? A lot of rich people and rich corporations. And what do they expect in return? Usually they want their political agenda promoted, even if it is not in society's best interest. A recent article in The Guardian by Bill McKibben, titled Time to get corporate cash out of democracy highlights a number of scandals where corporations received special favours from politicians they supported. At least, they should have been scandals, but this stuff seems to have become the norm, and people have gotten tired of living in state of permanent outrage, and so have tuned out.
How do we treat the corrupting infection of money in a Representative Democracy? The problem seems to be chronic (although the symptoms have worsened lately). By concentrating the decision making power in the hands of a few persons, we make it easier for the infection to take hold, as it has only to target a small number of persons to achieve a foothold.
In Ikanocracy, he decision making process is widely based, and so without any special rules it is already resistant to the corrupting infection of money.
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