Money is the most potent poison ever created by man. More contagious than the plague, more corrosive than hydrochloric acid and more devastating than syphilis. There is no such thing as enough money. Money attracts money. Political funding is the antithesis of politics itself. By osmosis, politics becomes money, the Town councils become Pty. Ltd. companies and the political parties become business committees. The biggest lie ever perpetrated is that it takes pots of money to do politics. This is the so-called cost of politics. Anyone wanting to become a politician must pay their own way and if they need any donations then they should have to ask the citizens. If they get elected, they must be fairly remunerated for the social function that they will be expected to perform and, if they currently have another job, their place must be kept for them. No special privileges, no dual employment, no Ghedinis who get paid by the citizens to represent them in Parliament as well as by Berlusconi to act as his personal Attorney, no full pensions after two and a half years and no official vehicles. Money corrupts social life and dashes any chance of true representation. An infernal mechanism (who was it that said that money is the spawn of the devil?) whereby elections are won by net worth. The wealthiest man in the Country becomes Prime Minister, one of Milan's wealthiest women becomes Mayor of Milan and behind Casini stands Caltagirone. Money has become the be-all and end-all of politics. The corruption that is fast filling the Italian jails in a totally bipartisan manner with Councillors, from Prosperini through to Frisullo, is the result of this type of political model. The concession holders that become politicians simply to protect their State concessions should not be allowed to do so. They must choose to be one or the other, either concession holder or politician. State concession holders that fund political parties, such as Benetton and their motorway concessions, should not be permitted to do so. There should be no such thing as State funding for political parties and no reimbursement of election expenses. The “MoVimento 5 Stelle” is campaigning without any public funding and is running on a shoestring. I travel around in a camper van, not in some chauffeur-driven government vehicle. I am merely a citizen amongst fellow citizens. I do politics. I and the other guys of the “MoVimento” do politics. We don't want any election contributions, let the citizens' money rather remain in the coffers of the Municipalities, the Regional Administrations and the State. “The cost of politics” must be replaced with some other term, perhaps “the pleasure of politics” or “the duty of politics” or even “the rights of politics”. Everyone is equal, irrespective of social standing. I want to see a mother of a single-income family with four children become mayor of a town. She would most certainly know how to run a Town council. A Prime Minister who is an artisan, a teacher or an electrician, not some two-bit corruptor. My concern is the cost of the State, not the cost of the political parties or the cost of politics. The “MoVimento 5 Stelle” has no treasurer because it has no coffers. Any voluntary donations that may be requested from citizens will be used for very specific purposes. These donations will not come to me but to the association or to the regions that requests these funds. The citizens will decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to contribute. They may never give up (is it in their interests?), but neither will we.