Comment Text:
Once we commodify the noble and deeply important activity of voting it ceases to be a strength of being a patriotic American Citizen. Not only does it change how individual voters will think about their duty to participate in our democracy into something to be gamed and treated as a potential source of money rather than a serious decision about their beliefs for the character and conduct of our government, but also it introduces corporate profit seeking into the process of conducting elections. Neither of those effects help to maintain the integrity of the most important political decisions we have to live with and under as we seek a more perfect Union. Rather it undermines them at every step of the way. We have already seen how the introduction of profit making into our political actions has degraded elections with the extremely negative effects of the Citizens United decision that makes profit making businesses into "persons" having the right to influence voting. Our current capitalist system is grounded on a Milton Friedman absolute that the ONLY purpose of a business is to make money for its shareholders.That influence in no way takes the full character of every citizen's well being into account. It seriously fails to conform to the betterment of our union for all the citizens of the country. Rather it strongly shifts it towards "special interests." Betting on the outcomes of our elections is another serious and immoral degradation of our polity.
