This Kid Made an App That Exposes Sellout Politicians

a reply to: howmuch4another

an I applaud this kid! It is going to be nonpartisan and factual in its implementation. He is looking for ideas on how to expand its abilities and one I can think of is linking the voting history of the politician so we don't have to go to the .gov website.

Great Idea to include how they voted. I would also add any criminal activity currently being investigated. In addition, any yes or no's on important issues. Wow we can literally have politicians in the consumers pockets instead of corporations! Now the voter can make an informed decision before entering the voting booth!!! This app can snowball!!!

a reply to: groingrinder

My gut tells me it never will, and even if it does, the NSA will be handling the updates.

give we few weeks, corporate fat cats will offer him a $$$, and then another medium will be owned & manipulated by the hobby lobby.

a reply to: TrueBrit

I would like to see all the Directorships MP's have and the salaries these earn them. I think when we hear about how little they actually earn - apart from the old expenses drawer etc, we would see a very different picture on their earnings and unexpressed interests. I have often heard the trite little comment from one on some panel or another "Oh I do have a slight interest but …..is what I want to happen" and for me once the interest is established - their input must be kept out and they should loeave the panel.

I wonder if an app like this would show up the Royal interest in things, like the Fracking laws being passed which, instead of bringing down the cost of oil, will purely put the money into the royal purse - that was clear as soon as fracking was mentioned in this country and the comment made "well, we are not like America which could immediately reduce the cost of oil, there are lots of other interests involved' - . That app would be very useful. I'm not technologically adept to be able to apply it to my phone but think its time, (once I have settled in from a move of home) to learning a lot more and updating myself.

Well, it works. I do however think he could improve the app so that it could display a larger screen off to the side where more information can be pulled up but that's just me. This guy took his time to do this and everyone should applaud his effort.

Everyone needs to see this thread and get that app. Maybe if enough people wake up, things will change. I'm emailing it to everyone I know. I hate facebook, but I'll also post it there just to spread the word.

Here it is all laid out in front of us. Like any good criminal investigation, just follow the money!

originally posted by: groingrinder
This app froze up my firefox. I had to uninstall it. It did not work.

Just do what the app does. Go to OpenSecrets.org and search for yourself.

originally posted by: g146541
a reply to: solarjetman
VERY BAD IDEA!!
Talk about sheep.
If people kept their finger on the pulse and talked to their reps or took appropriate action, this app would not be needed.
But it is easier to just let an app do all of the work, never mind, nothing here to see...

To stay fully informed of what our politicians are doing is like a full time job. While yes, we SHOULD be doing that, we shouldn't HAVE to do it. I'd rather live my life happily WITHOUT worrying about how my politicians are being bribed. This app makes it a LOT easier to stay informed. Not everyone has the time or even likes to spend looking up politician details all day, every day.

Politicians would all say it doesn't work because they all ended up on the list.

a reply to: solarjetman

I think our little Warriors are Heros of Humanity and they WILL NEVER BE STOPPED.

The CHANGE is past the point of no return now,things are gaining momentum.

Now maybe this kid can make an APP that will show us where ALL of the money is going and to WHOM it belongs in real-time so we can all see BY NAME who the REAL HUMANITARIAN TERRORISTS ARE.


.

"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."

-John Adams

so, with all the posts written so far...it seems all of you are in favor of public financed elections...that would certainly keep the influence of the corporate and wealthy at bay...can't wait to see it.

This is only as good as the information it receives and the people collecting that information. Not only that, but this app can only be as transparent as a politician is willing to be.

I am in favor in limited public funding and fair uses of tv/internet/paper/radio advertising time. And not for just the big two, but for all candidates. I would make it that all candidates only one free 15 second ad per half hour.

But back to topic. Congrats to this kid who has really made a great idea of an app. If he can get streaming info so it is up to date to the day then it would be awesome.

originally posted by: NavyDoc
It's a good idea if the information is put into the system in a truthful, objective, and nonpartisan manner. Otherwise you just get more crap.

Also, will this include some major money diners like labor unions or will just focus on evil corporations? It's seems the designer already has an agenda, but time will tell.

That's the first problem - how is the data sourced and verified?

The larger problem is that "campaign donations" are already pretty easily available - what's not always so obvious is who's funding "The Campaign for a Purtyer America" PAC? Most of the money given to PACS can be "laundered" in ways large and small.

The even bigger problem is money and favors granted to friends and family and supporters. For a recent example, how much money did Bill Clinton get for making speeches while Hillary was a Senator or SOS - or even just a very influential political figure? How much did *she* get?

Further down - who contributes to the Clinton Foundation - often big corporations - and how's their money spent? How much is Chelsea making off her "job" with that hedge fund, and what does she do? How much is Google paying her, and what does she do? How much does the Clinton Foundation pay her, and what does she do? We only know what she gets from NBC, and what she (doesn't) do for it. But of course, they only mention "salary" - what other benefits accrue?

And a "salary" is for amateurs - the real benefits come in the form of "benefits" - a great many of these organizations pay little or no salary - but their "administrative" expenses are phenomenal. (As a made-up example, imagine you're the son of a Senator who some entity wants to impress - they donate $10m to a non-profit, who pays you $1 a year for unspecified duties. But in addition, you get health insurance, a leased Mercedes, and use of a $10m apartment overlooking Central Park with maid service, plus "dining expenses", "travel expenses", and a clothing allowance.

Not meaning to just pick on the Clintons, but the recent "hiring" of Chelsea for all manner of"expertise" is shamefully obvious.

(I've seen variations of this in the corporate world - like an offer for someone to take over a division VP - the salary was definitely nice - but was the least of it - the offer also included large annual "incentive bonuses" that surpassed the salary - and if they stayed 90 days, it was assumed that they have met their first year "incentives" and would be paid out. Plus they got moving expenses, a huge interest-free loan to buy a house, money for dining and country club memberships, use of luxury car with driver, money for maid service, money for cleaning services, money for clothing, and probably several other things I've forgotten. The non-salary benefits were huge.

And of course, not every corrupt politician is "elected" - and funny how many campaign workers find lucrative jobs after the election in companies and organizations that just happen to support their candidates' agendas - trust me, it's pervasive - and a lot of them are "no-show" kinds of jobs.

Same with no-compete government contracts. And in my past life, I worked at a company that sought government contracts - and I've seen more than one Congressman, Senator, or corporate executive intervene in these contracts, dictating selection of certain suppliers or sub-contractors, who were more expensive and less-qualified than vendors/suppliers I'd selected.

Follow the money, Open Secrets, the FEC, yeah, great - but corruption is usually far more subtle, and far more enriching, than some ham-handed donation to a campaign. But it *can* be useful to see who they spend that campaign money on, like "consulting contracts" ...

I'll stop here - but this can go on and on and on - because the problem does - it goes on and on and on, and most people haven't got the first clue.

a reply to: g146541

And just how was your initial post about

"Talk about sheep.
If people kept their finger on the pulse and talked to their reps or took appropriate action, this app would not be needed.
But it is easier to just let an app do all of the work, never mind, nothing here to see..."

Not an Ad Hominen attach on everyone who likes the idea? It's okay to denigrate hundreds of people; just not a single one.

Brilliant.

a reply to: squittles

Well, hey, it's a good start. Perhaps it will lay the ground for future apps and such to bring those issues to the surface easily, too. However, deep pockets have good lawyers, and lots of em.

Also, couldn't google, Firefox, etc be paid to skuttle the app's functioning?

Personally, I think anything that streamlines data to a central point is great, especially if we can be educated by it. What's wrong with that?

originally posted by: g146541
a reply to: solarjetman
VERY BAD IDEA!!
Talk about sheep.
If people kept their finger on the pulse and talked to their reps or took appropriate action, this app would not be needed.
But it is easier to just let an app do all of the work, never mind, nothing here to see...

Your response makes no sense. Just because something makes it easier to obtain information doesn't mean its a bad idea. You can plug your response to almost any inovation that has made getting inforamtion easier. Why do you need a search function if people would just take the time to read every post ever written. Why would anyone need Google if they just went down to the local library and used the dewy decimal system to find the inforamtion they need, in fact why do they need the dewy decimal system if people would take the time to learn their catagories (alphabetical/numeral) we wouldn't need a dewy decimal system. In fact we shouldn't need libraries if people just got off their butt and traveled the world and learned something without reading a book...etc, etc. I bet you never use the map function on your phone, your the kinda guy that puts a stick in the ground to determin the time of day and your north,west,south, east coordinates so you can eventually get to where you are going. Or I'm going to go out on a hunch here and assume you are the guy who hates to learn something new. And a quick question, how easy is it to get your rep on the phone or to actually get him to sit down and talk with you? And if everyone did that would it be even possible for the rep to be able to sit down and answer questions like "who funds your political endevors" to every voter?. And if they are reading articles that are mentioning a congress person/canadit name wouldn't you consider that "taking the time to learn" about said person? I digress.

a reply to: PaladinRoden\
Nice strawman tirade.
I guess I was right, everyone wants McPoitics, just tell me which chad to punch out.
Nobody seems to want to pay attention to the important things nowadays until it hits their doorstep.
But I guess everyone is entitled to life liberty and happiness, happy to be ignorant and do what one is told.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: g146541

While I empathise entirely with your position, and agree that people should be more proactive in figuring things out for themselves, I am also aware that people are about as motivated at the moment as your common or garden corpse, and it will take significant, and lengthy efforts to change that.

Agree...But it should also be mentioned that even the most politically engaged don't always have the resources and bandwidth to sort out who is getting payola from who.

I occasionally drill down on a given politician, and have to engage in a lot of googling, research etc. the opensecrets website helps, but it is cumbersome and difficult to navigate and incomplete.

Hell, if I didn't have to work for a living, I might...might...be able to keep up with SOME of the corruption.

This app is an outstanding first step.

The internet can be used as a lever for free democracy and to fight Tyranny...and not just Twitter.

Another thought...will these kinds of anti-corruption technologies drive politicians further into "Dark Money"...exploiting loop-holes and lax campaign finance laws to hide their corruption? AND can we hope for a version of the App that flags politicians amassing "Dark Money"...even if we don't know the source?