<story><title>Too Much Dark Money in Almonds</title><url>https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/18/too-much-dark-money-in-almonds/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>nitwit005</author><text>&amp;gt; First, we should expect ordinary people to donate more to politics.&lt;p&gt;My mother donated once to some Democratic volunteer who came to her door. They hounded her for more donations. She got mailings, phone calls, multiple people at her door. She vowed never to give them another cent.&lt;p&gt;Perhaps an unusually bad experience, but generally you do get punished this way for donating. I emptied my grandmother&amp;#x27;s mailbox when she became ill, and due to her charitable giving, it was absolutely crammed with political and charity mailings.</text></comment>
<story><title>Too Much Dark Money in Almonds</title><url>https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/09/18/too-much-dark-money-in-almonds/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>koboll</author><text>&amp;gt;If everyone who cared about homelessness donated $100 to the problem, homelessness would be solved. Nobody does this, because they know that nobody else is going to do it, and their $100 is just going to feel like a tiny drop in the ocean that doesn’t change anything. People know that a single person can’t make a difference, so they don’t want to spend any money, so no money gets spent.&lt;p&gt;I wonder if something like the National Popular Vote compact could work here.&lt;p&gt;It works like this: state legislatures pass a law that says if enough states sign onto the compact to pass 270 electoral votes, their electors are automatically assigned to the winner of the popular vote. In this way, nothing changes and no one has to sacrifice anything until enough states agree to actually effect a change, and then they act together to effectively obviate the Electoral College.&lt;p&gt;Sure, if I donate $100 to a homelessness charity, it&amp;#x27;ll feel like a drop in the bucket. But if some charity starts an initiative to take my credit card information and &lt;i&gt;only&lt;/i&gt; charge it once enough people donate to end homelessness, I might be more inclined to do it. Either the threshold is reached and homelessness ends, or I get a feeling of altruistic pride for doing nothing. Everyone wins!</text></comment>