Below are paragraphs written by election observers regarding Guatemala or the United States. Can you identify which paragraphs refer to which Country?
Paragraph #1 Guatemala or the United States?
In recent years discussions about the quality of democracy in the Western Hemisphere have focused increasing concern on the financing of political parties and their campaigns. Unlimited spending on campaigns is believed (correctly or not) to have raised the cost of elections to the point where poor candidates stand little chance of competing and the prospect of creating a level playing field for parties and their candidates has become decidedly remote. Undisclosed contributions of licit or illicit origin by wealthy donors have meanwhile intensified the dependence of elected officials on their campaign funders, increasing the likelihood that politicians respond to donor interests and hindering effective representation for the ordinary citizen in the making of public policy. In tandem, these trends are contributing to public cynicism about parties and candidates, and about the possibilities for meaningful citizen participation in politics.
Paragraph #2 Guatemala or the United States?
___ ’s political finance system reflects the shortcomings of the election system as a whole. Just as rules for registration and voting hinder participation and truncate representation, thus serving to entrench underlying social inequalities, political finance rules allow money free reign, preventing the modicum of political equality needed in a modern democracy
Paragraph #3 Guatemala or the United States?
In a country characterized by an extremely unequal distribution of income and wealth, this system maximizes the potential for those with money to determine the outcomes of election contests and shape policy to their own advantage, disregarding the will of the voters.
Paragraph #4 Guatemala or the United States?
2. Absence of Limits on Campaign Spending
No caps exist either on total spending or on spending on media advertising during election processes. Political parties may purchase unlimited amounts of advertising time on television and radio as well as stuff the newspapers full of ads. In addition to annoying the voters, this license reproduces the underlying inequality in financial resources among the contenders, allowing the wealthier parties to gain the bulk of the access. The absence of limits in this area also makes campaigns potentially vulnerable to funding from illicit sources. The length of __ election campaigns aggravates this problem.
If you said none of the four paragraphs sounds like the United States. You are absolutely correct. These paragraphs all come from a
2004 report on Guatamala published by the
Carter Center.
The report was based on an "Observation Mission" the Carter Center sent to Guatemala to monitor their elections. If the Carter Center sent a team of observers to the United States during the 2012 election season, obviously they should start from scratch when writing their report about the United States. Certainly, the United States is nothing like Guatemala. The names are way different. Further Guatemala recognized they had a problem and invited the Carter Center to come in and write a report and release it to the world. Therefore Guatemala at least recognized it had a problem and asked for help.
Hopefully, Guatemala took that report and implemented some of the recommended reforms in their campaign finance system.
Philip B. Maise
Plaintiff, super PAC lawsuit
For extra fun compare these two paragraphs. One from each Country no tricks this time.
Ten minutes before the filing deadline.....he... switched parties and decided to run as a _. This gave the ___ party no candidate.
__’s political parties by and large exist mainly at election time, and mostly serve as the personal vehicles of prominent or aspiring leaders, many of whom have jumped from one party to another several times during their careers.