“give every voter up to $600 in what she calls ‘Democracy Dollars’ that they can donate to federal candidates for office”

Kirsten Gillibrand’s 2020 presidential campaign is going nowhere fast. According to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, she currently stands at a whopping 0.4 percent. She hasn’t reached the threshold required to appear in debates and is trying pretty much anything to stay relevant.

Her newest ‘Hail Mary’ move is a proposal to give Americans $600 in ‘Democracy Dollars’ which can be used to donate to political campaigns.

Benjy Sarlin reports at NBC News:

‘Democracy Dollars’: Gillibrand’s plan to give every voter $600 to donate to campaigns Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., unveiled a plan on Wednesday to give every voter up to $600 in what she calls “Democracy Dollars” that they can donate to federal candidates for office. In an exclusive interview with NBC News to discuss the roll out of her first major 2020 policy initiative, Gillibrand said her “Clean Elections Plan” would help reduce the influence of big money in politics. “If you want to accomplish anything that the American people want us to accomplish — whether it’s healthcare as a right, better public schools, better economy — you have to take on the greed and corruption that determine everything in Washington,” she said. Under Gillibrand’s plan, every eligible voter could register for vouchers to donate up to $100 in a primary election and $100 in a general election each cycle, either all at once or in $10 increments to one or more candidates over time. Each participant would get a separate $200 pool for House, Senate and presidential contests for a total maximum donation of $600 for those federal offices.

Politicians appropriating money that came from taxpayers, then redistributing it to people for the purpose of giving money to politicians. What a plan!

Elena Schneider of Politico has more:

Under Gillibrand’s plan, eligible voters could opt into her “Democracy Dollars” program and register for vouchers, provided by the Federal Elections Commission, to donate up to $100 in a primary election and $100 in a general election each cycle. Each participant would get $200 for each type of federal contest: House, Senate and presidential elections. But there would be limits on both donors and candidates in order to use the public voucher program. Voters could contribute only to candidates in their state — including House candidates outside their district but within their state. In order to accept the public money, candidates would have to restrict themselves to accepting only donations of $200 or less. Currently, the maximum individual donation candidates can take in per election is $2,800 ($5,600 for both a primary and a general).

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air points out that this is a case of the solution being worse than the problem:

“Democracy dollars” are a laughably self-absorbed money-laundering mechanism to raid the federal treasury for political campaigning. It imposes more artificial limits and complexity to a system that’s getting corrupted because of those artificial limits and complexities, not in spite of them. If we want corruption out of the system, make all donations to candidates and PACs above $200 instantly transparent and searchable, and evaluate candidates on the money they raise.

Adding further insult, this apparently wasn’t even an original idea. The Andrew Yang campaign claims they have been touting a similar policy with the same name for months:

The media is giving some coverage to Kirsten Gillibrand’s democracy dollars as though Andrew Yang hadn’t had it in his own platform for months and months. If we don’t speak up, they get away with it. #Yang2020 #YangGang #HumanityFirsthttps://t.co/t3ScwglGQU — UBI for America (@UBI4America) May 1, 2019

Last word goes to this guy:

“Here’s $600 we took from you” “Oh, thanks” “Ok, now give it back” — Admiral Kunkka (@SacredDriver) May 1, 2019



