Congressional NASCAR

Novel ideal from Stephen Prizzo as published by Alternet:

Maybe you forgot about campaign finance and lobbying reform. The folks on The Hill certainly hope you have. Listening to the occasional talk out of Congress about how they are going to finally reform how they finance their campaigns reminds me of a bunch of inebriated barflies pledging to kick the juice -- someday. Not today, because well you know. But someday.

Forget about it. It's never going to happen.

So I have a solution. Politicians should be treated like NASCAR drivers. I call my idea the NASCONG reform. It's simple and cheap as hell, and could be implemented today.

Here's how it works. NASCAR drivers make no bones about who pays their way. They plaster the names and logos of their top contributors all over themselves and their cars. So, when fans hear a driver talk about how great Goodyear tires are, and there's the Goodyear logo emblazoned on his jacket, they can judge for themselves just how objective or subjective his respect for those tires might actually be.

So, I ask, why should we treat our national politicians any different? After all, they too have sponsors, and the things those sponsors want are a hell of a lot more serious than tires, batteries and 10W-5W0 oil.