There is just no room for the little guy any more. Seriously. If the world were a sandbox there would be nothing but big, bad bullies in it.

Mom and Pop got evicted from the business world by the corporate goons. It's one thing to watch MegaCorp throw Mom and Pop on their hides. They are businesses and they have every right to do it. That's the nature of capitalism. But it is quite another thing to watch these same bloated corporations control the face of American politics by tossing the little guy onto the street next to Mom and Pop.

So I think it's about time we all jumped on the "Let's give campaign finance reform a major renovation" bandwagon.

I am not talking about a nip and tuck tweaking of our system. I am talking about sticking a few hundred tons of dynamite into campaign finance, lighting the fuse and starting all over.

Soft money, hard money, there's no difference. It's all too much money if you ask me. And it's the billions of dollars Republicans and Democrats raise that keep the little guy (the third, fourth or fifth party) out of the mix. The same guy who actually gives a hoot if we pay through the nose for HMOs or not.

I am talking about free air time for political candidates on television and radio. I am talking about minute caps on how much a candidate can spend on a re-election campaign. I am talking about getting politics out of the hands of the oil companies, banking conglomerates and insurance companies and putting it back in the hands of true politicians.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear politicians heatedly debate the merits of a new health care system rather than give the same speech 27 times that was written by whichever insurance company paid for their current thirty second spot on NBC?

Wouldn't it be nice to see the rise of a third party in our political system so people wouldn't have to feel so polarized by the "one-state, two-state, red-state, blue-state" brand of politics alive in this country today?

Wouldn't it be great to hear Wolf Blitzer reporting on a legitimate candidate from a third party rather than snicker and mention Ralph Nader?

I contend special interest groups should not be allowed to give money to candidates at all. Period. Take Rep. Gwendolyne Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, as an example.

According to politicalmoneyline.com, a Web site dedicated to reviewing the campaign finances of politicians, Moore, who represents the state's 4th Congressional District that includes Marquette, has received more than $47,000 from organized labor groups in the 2006 election cycle.

While it would be unfair to say her votes on bills important to organized labor will always favor those groups, it is fair to say that campaign donations for her next race will be in the back of her mind when she makes votes regarding those groups.

It's time the little guy got a shot at politics again. Unfortunately, it's going to take several big, bad bullies to let the little guy back into the sandbox. And if my kindergarten experience serves as any indicator, the little guy better get used to the teeter-totter.

This viewpoint was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 18, 2005.