Fundraising - with all available means

Hey Guys!

Today I write about the article “GOP Sends Out Fundraising Letter That Looks Exactly Like Census Form“, which was published By Nicole Belle on Tuesday Jan 26, 2010.

It is interesting how the Republican Party tries to get money for the gubernatorial elections 2010: they send letters which appear to be an official census form and ask for money at the same time. Just watch this short video and you will see what this is all about. Now the question is: Can this be legal?

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On the one hand I think this seems very funny – who is able to take questions like "Do you think the record trillion dollar federal deficit the Democrats are creating with their out-of-control spending is going to have disastrous consequences for our nation?" serious? For me it seems just like a bad joke… . But on the other hand it is a highly discussed topic; how far are parties allowed to go for fundraising? It seems, that for the Republican Party all available means are all right. They try to cheat the people and make them belief that this letter is an official document:

The letter was sent in plain white envelopes marked "Do Not Destroy, Official Document." Labeled "2010 Congressional District Census," the letter uses a capital "C," the same as the Census Bureau. It also includes a "Census Tracking Code."

The problem is that participation in the government census is required by law – people do not know whether they are required to answer this strange letter or not. Mainly old people do not know how to react. They do not want to support the Republican Party, but they want to act according to law. Nearly all of the people who commented at “Crooks and Liars” know that this was some kind of “joke, but they are worried that such occurrences could become the rule. Here is one example-comment:

“Mis-leading mail comes in bundles to my 76 year old mother. Many with the same scamming tactics threatening her if she doesn't reply. Here is the GOP engaging in these same tactics. And our government refuses to do anything about it. freedom of speech is now freedom to deceive.”

I think it is always important to see from which point of view something is called legal or illegal. In America every party needs money for successful election campaigns (if you want to inform yourself about how much money was raised in the last years, follow this link ;) ). The more money, the better the campaign. Also Obama was blamed for using illegal fundraising methods during his campaign 2008. From the Republican perspective the methods of the Democrats are wrong and illegal – and from the Democratic perspective the Republican methods are wrong and illegal. It is always a thin line between what is right and what is wrong.