It's Over...Again!

" Hope you had a good Christmas? What did you get?"

Christmas is over. Once again, we have memories of family gatherings, happy faces, gifts given and received

 and now,family visitors who have left for their homes.

Time to get the vacuum cleaner out, take off all those ornaments and put away the artificial tree . It’s over, again. Stores and shops have been enjoying their seasonal upsurge in business and now it’s time to check the ‘bottom line’. It’s a great time of the year!

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The secular sideshow of modern Christmas represents a time of joy, gift-giving. Early history credits the first gift-giving and travel to that of the three wise-men visiting the new-born baby Jesus.
Christmas in the Christian tradition honors the birth of Christ – though the commercial side outshouts the sacred in our modern society. History accounts of ‘Christmas’, as we know it, evolved out of the Roman tradition of Saturnalia, a festival honoring their god of agriculture, Saturn, on the winter solstice. Currently, the commercial side of the holiday season heavily outweighs the sacred meaning of Christmas.

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Many of our traditional practices of Christmas have evolved from the past. December is cold, damp with long, dark nights.Christmas in Scandinavia is an antidote to darkness, a way to break winter's hold. From lighting the candles during Advent to following the ritual of burning the Yule Log, Scandinavian Christmas traditions are the highlight of the festive season.

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Advent, for Christians everywhere opens the joyful activities. A candle is lit in each of the four Sundays in prepare for the anticipated event celebrated in US churches.

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 December 6th is an important date for today’s children. Saint Nicolas has been known to bring rewards to the young.

A fourth century bishop named Nicolas was concerned with the people living in poverty in his area.

He gave what he could in homemade food, clothes, and furniture. The bishop even gave out oranges, which would have been very rare and expensive in Lycia, where he lived. The problem: ‘Where to leave these gifts so that the children would find them?’..Everyone would go the early-morning fireplace to get warm! Many people believe Saint Nicholas was the basis of Santa Claus, but the practice of stocking-stuffing can be traced back to his charitable donations in the 4th century. Nicholas believed that childhood should be savored and enjoyed – but in a time where boys and girls younger than 10 had to work to support their families, this wasn’t always possible.

　

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A Famous Swedish saint coincides with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has

become a festival of light. Lussinatta, the Lussi Night, was marked in Sweden, December 13 . According to the traditional story, Lucia was born of rich and noble parents around the year 283. It is believed that a Sicilian Saint called Lucia was killed for her Christian faith in 304 AD.

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Scandinavia is known to be the birthplace of Yuletide traditions. The dark, cold winters inspired the development of these customs that would go on to become one of the most important traditions in Christmas around the world.

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Since Scandinavia experiences little natural light for a large amount of the year, the sun has become extremely important to the Scandinavian people. In ancient times, it was believed that the gods controlled the return of the sun and if they were not  worshipped properly , the sun would not return. Because of these superstitions, many Scandinavian holidays, such as Midsummer,Santa Lucia Day, and Christmas, revolve around  the celebration of the sun and light.
   

The high point of the Scandinavian season is not Christmas Day, but Christmas Eve. This part of Scandinavian Christmas traditions  may also have to do with darkness. Coming to dinner through streets wrapped in darkness, having the door of welcome opened and yellow light suddenly streaming out into the dark  must create a warm and friendly atmosphere.

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  Not Santa, but the' Julenisse' puts presents under the Christmas tree at night. According to customs, children leave a bowl of porridge outside for the gnome, in the hope that the gnome gets impressed and leaves presents. At times , the Julenissen can be seen in a small sleigh pulled by a goat!

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In Scandinavia, a small gnome called 'Straw Goats', also known as the'Yule Goat' are

probably the most famous Scandinavian Christmas characters. Typically made out of straw,  these goats are associated with the custom of 'wassailing', sometimes referred to as 'going Yule Goat' in Scandinavia. This can be traced back to sagas recalling two goats pulling the wagon of Thor, the powerful mystic-being who made thunder and lightning by throwing his hammer in the sky. The straw comes from the last bundle of grain harvested earlier to honor a successful harvest season.

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Possible, we may be able to 'spice up' our caroling fun next year! Between Christmas and New  Year’s Day, Scandinavians don masks and costumes and go door to door. Neighbors receiving them attempt to identify who is at their door because the visitors  often disguise their voices and body language to further the masquerade. Offering the visiting people holiday treats and something to drink is customary. Once identities are known and the food is eaten, the Julebukkers,  continue to the next home. This custom has been borrowed and enjoyed by American youth in our Halloween Eve every year.

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The Yule season remains a time for feasting, drinking, gift-giving, and gatherings, but, in the past, it was also  the season of awareness and fear of the forces of the dark.

-In the words of Thor Heyerdahl -

"We use our holidays to celebrate the sun. We celebrate the arrival of the sun, the summer

solstice, we journey to the mountains in search of the sun, and on the days we miss it the

most, because it is farthest away, we cheer ourselves with a grand Christmas fest".
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Now that the Christmas festivities have ended ,  we  expect a long winter. But first, we take some time to reflect on the 'Old Year' , and make our plans for the days yet to come!  Hopefully, an even better year  ahead.

Happy New Year!

Christmas, Long Ago

 

 In ancient times, long before Christianity came to Scandinavia, “Jul” or “Yule” was an observation of the winter solstice. It was a mid-winter celebration of the transition from the dark winter to spring and the time to celebrate harvest, fertility and birth. December is the darkest month of the year but it is also when the days start to get longer again. In “The Early Days”,      

    

 Jul was  a pagan tradition that, in time,slowly converted into a Christian custom , the last week of December,celebrating the birth of Jesus.

And today...

 

In Sweden, youngsters had  their stockings hung at the end of their bed before the morning of the 24th,  Christmas Eve. Following the discovery of the stockings contents, joyous activities were enjoyed   until about 3 pm. At this time, much of Sweden gathered their families, of all things, to watch  cartoons! This was the time when a viewing of Donald Duck and his Friends officially kicked off the Christmas festivities.

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Every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, "From All of Us to All of You." Or as it is known in Sverige (Swedish),' Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul:' ( Donald Duck and his friends extend their Christmas wishes).

Kalle Anka (pronounced kah-lay ahn-kah) gets its name from the star of the show's animated short, a 1944 cartoon called "Clown of the Jungle," in which Donald Duck is tormented by a demented Aracuan Bird during a luckless ornithological expedition.
The show's cultural significance is VERY important! There is no taping or DVR Kalle Anka for later viewing, and   no eating or dinner preparation is allowed while watching Kalle Anka. Every member of the family is expected to sit quietly together and watch a program that generations of Swedes have been watching for fifty years. Most families plan their entire Christmas around Kalle Anka, from the Smörgåsbord at lunch to the post-Kalle visit from Jultomten. It has been said that "At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, you can't to do anything else, because Sweden is closed." Each time the network has attempted to cancel or alter the show, public complaints have been swift and fierce.

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After the show, the tree that has been decorated with strings of the country flag, or white lights that resemble  the  bonfires that lit
the  dark  winter nights might be the center of family activity. Everyone joins hands and they circle the tree while singing  “Nu är det jul igen, nu är det jul igen!”and other favorites until everyone stops singing and starts walking towards the table. It’s time for the Christmas smorgasbord.

The traditional Scandinavian kitchen offers a wide variety of cold and warm traditional Christmas dishes. The cuisine varies slightly between the three countries  It is expected that you should go around seven times to get food at a proper smorgasbord ,because of the wide range of cold and hot food, fish, meat and desserts that is served. Some of the fish dishes that might be included are herring & lutefisk. The herring is pickled and comes in many variations, tasting of garlic, tomato or mustard. Other dishes include lutefisk, as well as meatballs, ham, duck, sausages and rice pudding. And of course there is an abundance of salads and garnish to go with it.

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Soon, there’s a knock on the door and Swedish youngsters happily allow the jultomten to join the festivities. In Norway, he’s the
 julenissen, in Denmark, he’s known as the julemanden. He’s believed to be a cross between the garden gnome and the Greek Saint Nichlas whose generosity became the inspiration for today’s American Santa Claus. Julenisse is a kind of cross between Father Christmas and a nisse. The most characteristic features of Norway's answer to Santa Claus are his red stocking cap and long white beard. The Julenisse wears knee breeches, hand-knitted stockings, a Norwegian sweater and a homespun jacket. On top he wears a heavy fur coat — it can get cold in Norway in the winter.

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Exactly where he lives is also disputed. Some say the North Pole is his real home, but in Scandinavia it is almost common knowledge that he lives in Rovaniemi, Finland, or if you ask a Dane, they might say he is from Greenland.
Santa (the Jultomte) delivers his presents in person and never flying through the air on a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer but sometimes on a sled pulled by a goat.

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  December 25th finds churchgoers enjoying a Christmas service and a quiet day with their

family.
    In Sweden, December 26th is a day of socializing. Children’s parties are held in the afternoon, while adults parties are held later in the evening and animals are given extra food.

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 In this season of games and merriment, there is little mention of children's bedtimes. In this time of long, cold, dark winter nights, the lights of Christmas and the songs of  celebration happily mark the Twenty Days of Christmas, ending January 13th, St. Knut’s Day.

        Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul 

(Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas)

Is Everybody Happy?

" 'Tis the season to be jolly.."

Stores have been crowded with shoppers hurrying through the crowded aisles as they try to find that advertised item that is on sale for only a short time. It began feverishly on Thanksgiving Day, continuing on Black Friday and now, the newest Cyber Monday!  People with "the means" are happily  planning on their future gift sharing, if not for their own 'material needs' at the present time.

Thanksgiving Day was quietly spent with friends and relatives, perhaps attending church services after which they traveled to warm and cozy gatherings at home.

  Major holidays are enjoyed by most people in comfort and joy, while others are not so fortunate. Military personnel have only memories as they spent lonely hours away from their loved ones. 

Homeless individuals have no home in which to go.

 Soup kitchens,

volunteers in church basements and social institutions open their doors, inviting these often cold and lonely individuals to share a hot meal and perhaps a place to sleep for the cold winter evening. The holiday spirit is shared for a short time.

Winter must be a very hard season for the homeless. Thankfully, the "more fortunate" tend to open their hearts during the winter season while perhaps thinking that 'They can take care of themselves in the spring and summer'.

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Exchange students coming from the Scandinavian area  to experience US schools all comment on special attention given to the effect of the long,dark Scandinavian winter nights. It is typical for foreigners to be nervous about facing the dark winters in Norway. 

Above the Arctic Circle, there is a period of time when the sun doesn’t make it over the horizon. When the sun doesn’t appear for 24 hours, it's called a Polar Night. The higher above the Arctic Circle, the more Polar Nights there are. Tromsø  is  217 miles above the Arctic Circle and has 60 Polar Nights in a row and this lack of sunlight has a depressing effect.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year.  Symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping energy and causing people to feel moody.

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Norwegians have a " solution" to offset this winter problem. Mothers give their children a daily spoonful of  fish oil, commonly called "Cod Liver Oil" which serves as a replacement for missing vitamins and helps the body to replace the  effects of  sunlight. Cod liver oil contains lot of good omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A and vitamin D. Even though Norwegians eat a lot of fish products, it is normal for children and adults to have a spoonful of cod liver oil every day of the year, especially in the long winter season.

Cod liver oil was traditionally manufactured by filling a wooden barrel with fresh cod livers and seawater and allowing the mixture to ferment for up to a year before removing the oil. Modern cod liver oil is made by cooking the whole cod  fish during the manufacture of fish meal.

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For the people who are trying to sleep at night and rise in the morning light , time becomes confusing. Melatonin can be  taken in the

evening as the standard treatment for delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD) and where circadian rhythms are not biologically synchronized  to the winter cycle. Polar nights and days blur and sleep cycles become confusing.Melatonin is found in many plants including rice, corn, tomato, grape and other edible fruits.The primary function is regulation of day-night cycles function as the synchronizer of the biological clock, melatonin interacts with the immune system.

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Many people believe that suicide rates peak during the winter months.This seems to make sense  given the existence of seasonal affective disorder and the tendency to associate depression with winter. Harsh weather increases the prevalence of diseases such as pneumonia and hypothermia due to minimal amount of sunlight in the winter time.   

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The Saturday before our Thanksgiving Day is designated National Survivors of Suicide Day by the United States Congress as a day when friends and family of those who have died by suicide can join together for healing and support. Finland held candlelit vigils  to commemorate its citizens who have taken their own lives.

An average of two people a day commit suicide in Finland, and campaigners insist it is time for a suicide prevention strategy to be put in place.

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The Finnish Central Association for Mental Health organized the annual event in 1992, at which candlelit vigils were held all over the country.  
The association is urging more action to take place to fight the scourge of suicide, estimating that up to 20,000 people try to commit suicide in Finland each year.The Finnish Central Association for Mental Health has organized the annual vigils to draw people’s attention to suicide and how we can prevent it. Suicide levels are highest among the retired, unemployed, impoverished, divorced, the childless, urbanites, empty- nesters, and other people who live alone. As the weather becomes cold, and nights become longer, attention is focused on those in need .  When the weather warms, we tend to forget, and our benevolent spirit seems to ebb during the remainder of the year.

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Although the dreary days of winter are depressing at times, I was surprised to learn that the idea that "suicide is more common during the winter holidays" is actually a myth, generally reinforced by media coverage associating suicide with the holiday season.
The National Center for Health Statistics found that suicides drop during the winter months, and peak during spring and early summer.Industrialized countries including Finland, Sweden have provided enough information to show that  suicidal tendencies are effected by the season, but this 'seasonal variation in suicide incidents' could be explained by the increase of sunshine in summer months and  high temperatures!

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 Most suicides take place in the spring because “everything begins to awake; activity is resumed, relations spring up, interchanges increase". In other words, it’s also human interactions, and not only the environment that caused higher incidence of suicide in spring or summer “The vast majority of people don’t commit suicide because they want to kill themselves, but as a way to end the torment of not being able to cope with a problem.”
 

While our holiday spirits causes us to be more caring, the actions of  the bell-ringers at the mall are quite often avoided. It is easy to believe they are collecting funds to be given to the homeless at the present time. However,  these funds may be   needed later,  as the needs and  risk of depression increases for the less fortunate.

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The long winter nights can be a source of exercise and activity.

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In Norway, darkness is just a way of life. People in warmer countries think that when it is dark you have to stay indoors, but this is impractical when you only have an hour of light each day. Darkness in Norway is also playtime, just the same as if it was light. After school, it is dark but the kids play in the snow. They go sledding, build snowmen and have

snowball fights in their front yards, down the street and in the parks. Kids  walk to school in the darkness and walk home in the darkness.

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Norwegians love fire. Any chance they get they will light up a candle. It is normal to see many candles on tables and windowsills.   Christmas lights are lit at the beginning of the dark season,just before Advent, and stay on until mid-January. In the dark season. Norwegians place hanging lamps in the windows to mimic the sun.

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Winter in Scandinavia is a magical time. If you enjoy winter sports, visit Scandinavia and Finland. This is the perfect time of the year for winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, or sledding.                       Have fun in the snow!

 May the joy of Christmas be with us now and not forgotten as time goes on.

And now, The latest Weather....

             More weather right after this word...

                   “A dangerous storm is ripping across our region. Stay tuned for further developments!”

This type of weather news would cause enough worry to stay ‘tuned-in’ and want to know more.

But when conditions are normal and calm, what can weather forecasters do to add some interest to their reporting? A Norwegian weatherman had a crazy idea. He decided to talk about the weather for an extended uninterrupted time and managed to talk for a record of 24 hours..Setting a record about weather!

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This caught the attention of a 41 year-old  Norwegian TV broadcaster who thought that might be an interesting touch to add interest to her weather broadcasts. Eli Kari Gjengedal from Leikanger, a municipality in the county of Fjordane, Norway, decided to try to break that record and get into the Guiness Book of Records.

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 Little is known of this weatherlady except that she is married, and well known in Norway for her many unconventional ideas on how to present the weather forecast. She has previously reported the weather in a space suit, and in an earlier broadcast ,suddenly

invisible.The record attempt was to be broken in a glass TV studio at Domkirkeplassen Square in Oslo. Her plan, in her words was to "talk about every small valley this country 's got; we'll move out into the world and have a look at different weather phenomena. Two meteorologists are going to sit beside me. We're going to analyze the weather and simply milk the world's biggest subject for conversation - the weather.”

 and her monologue began.

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   During the world record attempt, Eli was allowed to take a five-minute break for every 60 minutes that she was on screen. Under those rules, Eli Kari Gjengedal began to talk uninterrupted weather to set a new world record for continuous weather news on a Norwegian television.

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During her time on air, she put on a bathrobe, let her hair down, chilled out on a chair, and drank a lot of coffee, but kept the nation of Norway informed on what was going on, which, at the time, was a quiet period between mild, partly sunny, and partly cloudy. Not much to report!
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Gjengedal stayed on the air until her goal of minimum 24 hours was past, smashing the old record  and continued to set a new record of  33 hours of  continuous weather broadcasting in November, 2014. News reports stated : “Norway’s Weatherwoman ,Eli Kari Gjengedal, holds claim to setting a new record of the longest weather broadcast, earning a place  in the Guinness Book of Records!”

But, stay tuned.  More after this...

For reasons unknown at this time, ‘Guinness’ hadn’t declared the event as “Official”.

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Meanwhile, here in the USA, Al Roker,a well-known TV personality was involved in  fund-raising to benefit the USO,(United Service Organization). To bolster his efforts, he jokingly announced to the TV listening public “ If you donate enough money, I’ll come to your front lawn and I will do a forecast”. Learning of  Norwegian  Eli Gjengedal’s effort, his joke evolved into a plan. Using her record time, Roker decided to break HER record of ‘on TV air’ time. To be successful, his goal was to talk ‘weather’ for OVER 33 hours. His goal was to raise funds to aid  the USO, United Service Organization, a non-profit and non-political organization well-known to military service people and their families while overseas  on duty or at home.

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   The rules were to be the same: 5 minute breaks allowed after every hour, however any ‘unused’ breaks could be ‘banked’  and combined for later use.
  As his broadcast team organized for the event, plans for staying active for such a venture were established.   Roker stated, “I’ll probably change shirts and undergarments and things like that. Maybe change a jacket. Just kinda, you know, freshen up.”  Roker didn’t plan on using a razor or

worry about how ragged he’d look  on camera. “I don’t look that great to begin with,” he claimed. He went on to say:“I don’t know if it’s gonna lure viewers, I think it’s just kind of a fun thing to do if people tune in. It’s more about trying to raise money and doing something that hasn’t been done before.”He began talking ‘weather’ November 19th at 9:55 PM EST to continue the broadcast for the next 34 hours or more...

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Al Roker is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today Show. Born in Queens, New York, he is  the son of  Albert Lincoln Roker, Sr., a labor relations negotiator, bus driver and dispatcher, of Bahamian descent. Al’s mother is of Jamaican descent . His career with NBC began in 1978 when he was hired at WKYC-TV in Cleveland. Roker's wife, his third, is fellow journalist Deborah Roberts who has reported for both ABC and NBC.

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'Al Roker Entertainment'  started in 1994, with programs produced for The Food Network, and has since grown to include a number of popular television channels including NBC, The History Channel, TRU TV, Animal Planet, GAC, The Weather Channel, Discovery, Spike, and many others.

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 As 'Today’s' weatherman continued his monologue, current weather conditions of polar vortexes and arctic blasts bringing early snow to US landscapes was making Al’s ‘Rokerthon’  job a bit easier. When the digital timer wound down to 000.000 at 8 AM EST Friday, November 14th , ending  the record-breaking weathercast,  Al Roker was visited by a representative of  The Guiness Book of Records.

 He did it!

After 34 hours, Al Roker  now, officially, holds the Guinness World Record for longest uninterrupted live weather report”.       A highlight was a surprise congratulatory call from the US Vice President  Joe Biden who stated, among other things,

"All that money for the USO!  Thanks buddy!"

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Al's marathon raised over $82,000 for the 'USO' .  All of this was made possible due to efforts of a Norwegian weatherwoman Eli Gjengedal. Thank you, Eli.  Thank you, Al ...and congratulations!

And now, we take you back to our regularly scheduled broadcast!

It's Over!

Hvor mye koster det?

Loosely translated, “ What’s the cost?” The United States 2014 midterm election is history and is proving to be the most expensive election in US history. Never mind that a presidential choice was not to be made. What’s the cost?

           How about SIX BILLION DOLLARS?

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Six billion dollars was spent to complete the process. Can you imagine the joy of charities, states and the economy if   any portion of six billion dollars is received rather than observe it being  given to a select few individuals? Obviously, the donors can afford the contributions and expect the recipient, after winning, to “ do them a favor”. In many cases, these billionaire donors are looking far ahead to future election gains . TV sets in the US have been inundated with political half-truths, negative, misleading and sometimes truthful ads. It’s finally over for a short time before it begins anew..

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How much should it cost to choose our leaders? Six billion dollars for an ‘off-year’ is unthinkable in other countries. Rich US ‘Super-PACs’ pour in their money from secret sources for special TV biased ads.What do our neighboring countries do?  How do our Scandinavian friends do it fairly?

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In 2010, 74% of Norwegian campaign funds come from Norway’s government subsidization. The Scandinavian process, which depends on public funds rather than private funds for campaign financing, is believed to promote greater transparency in the process and reduce the dependency on corporate money. This is public fund campaign financing!  There are many different political parties in Norway. Norway has a multiparty system. When people go to vote, they have many alternatives from which to choose.
                                           21 parties!

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Norway's  current government  is a coalition of the Conservatives and The Progress  Party. They don’t have a majority alone, but are supported in parliament by the centrist Liberal and Christian Democrats.  The European Union Committee of Ministers issued suggestions in 2003  requiring political parties of member nations to make their donations public, keep accurate records, prevent conflicts of interest, and maintain a fixed ceiling for donations.
And unlike in the U.S., where candidates and their supporters can buy as much television time as they can afford, political ads are banned from television and radio.   

 Political ads are banned from Norwegian television and radio?! 

And in Sweden....

 

Since the Great Depression, Swedish national politics has largely been dominated by the Social Democratic Workers' Party, which has held a plurality (and sometimes a majority) in parliament since 1917. The last Swedish general election was held on 14 September 2014.Unlike in many countries where voters chose from a list of candidates or parties, each party in Sweden has separate ballot papers. The ballot papers must be identical in
size and material, and have different colors depending on the type of election: yellow, blue,  and white for municipal elections and elections to the European Parliament.---Sweden has a problem--Swedish election policy of always displaying the ballot papers for voters to select in public, making it impossible for voters to vote secretly. This has been criticized as undemocratic. To confuse onlookers,  many use subterfuge and select bunches of additional ballots which they do not actually intend to use.

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Denmark is roughly the size of Maryland in population and geography.and there are eight parties in their parliament  In the 2007 election, Denmark’s two leading parties combined, including their public financing, spent less than $8 million – a fraction of the $5.3 billion candidates spent on the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Danish law only requires political parties to file annual reports of contributors. Even then, parties need only name contributors who gave more than 20,000 Danish kroner (about $3,770). Anonymous contributions are also allowed, but only if the party does not know the identity of the donor. .But the biggest difference in a campaign season between our two countries is the money. With a ban on political TV ads in Denmark, cash plays a much smaller role in the blitz for votes here.
       And yes, again, Denmark bans political  TV ads.
There are eight political parties and every political party  in Denmark backs the ban on political ads. One major party leader recently called the ban “the best thing ever.”

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As we all know,  campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to influence political debate, and   ultimately, voters. In the EU, many countries do not permit paid-for TV or radio advertising for fear that wealthy groups will gain control of airtime making fair play impossible and distort the political debate in the process. In both the United Kingdom and Ireland, paid advertisements are forbidden, though political parties are allowed a small number of party political broadcasts in the run up to election time.

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In Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland and Iceland, which have high numbers of women in parliaments, political parties receive state subsidy or some form of assistance (e.g. free, equal broadcasting time on TV and radio for campaigns or party-related activities such as research.Public financing of campaigns is seen as democratic, fair and equitable as both women and men candidates and parties that qualify for government support are given equal amounts for campaigns, thus not only the “wealthy” or those with access to party coffers.

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Other countries encourage women to join the party!

In France, political parties which do not include 50% women in their party lists face sanctions such as reduction or withdrawal of campaign funding support from the government. Generally, public financing of campaigns refers to campaign money provided by the government to a candidate or political party. Public funds may be provided to cover a portion or all of the campaign costs by the candidate or political party. This seems to work well for our neighbors.

             Or, we can let rich corporations continue funding our future.