Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Should there be Campaign Finance Reform?
The idea that money has been a major part of politics is not a new concept. How the money is raised, where it is spent, and who can give what amount is a new phenomenon in American politics. There is a lot of talk about campaign finance reform in Washington these days, but is it really necessary? Campaign finance does not need to be reformed because money will always play an integral role in American politics. The reform in 2002 labeled the Bipartisan Campaign reform act did not plug all of the loopholes of campaign finance, it created new ones. By eliminating soft money and increasing the amount of hard money that candidates could receive in each election cycle, the reform helped create a new type of group called the 527 group(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/527_groups). By trying to plug these loopholes we have created new groups. These groups find a way to get money to the candidate. Money is the lifeline of a candidate, he cannot live without it. Certain groups need friends in congress so they must provide him with adequate funds to remain/ get elected to office. These two prongs working together will always find a way to keep politics about money. We should spend less time working on trying to reform the system, and more time worrying about legislative bills that will affect Americans. The reform has eliminated brown paper bags being exchanged in seedy hotels, and has required full documentation of all funds obtained by the candidate, which should be sufficient to keep the money clean. Money is speech in modern society, and for a democracy to continue functioning it needs money, and we should protect that no matter what the cost.
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4 comments:
I believe you have good points, but I will have to disagree.
Yes, money will always play a role in our politics, but it should not play as big of a role as it does. Unless you are an upper class, wealthy American, you stand no chance at running for office. Does that really even represent the majority of our nation considering the majority is middle, lower middle, and lower class status? We need people in Washington that understand the differing issues of all parts of society, and that cannot be done when the average representative has lived nothing but a privileged life.
Yes, there will always be people trying to find loopholes to get around things, but does that make it any less important? People find loopholes to get away with fraud, does that make it a nonissue? No.
Countries in Europe and other democracies have managed to publicly fund their programs, why can't we?
You're right in the fact that money is so important in politics, but it's unfortunate that it's basically the deciding factor in how things play out. Shannon's right; just because people can find loopholes doesn't make it right to use them. We need to be working harder at eliminating them, not simply accepting their existence.
I believe you when we should actually start worrying about legislation that will effect normal Americans, but Campaign finance can effect normal Americans. By making the political system more about the candidates and less about money, normal Americans can get representatives that reflect their position in life, not some wealthy member of society. I disagree with you that we shouldn't have campaign finance reform. It can be one more step we can take to make this country more representative of its population.
I agree. America revolves around money especially our government. No matter what anyone does to control it, someone will find a way around it. It's the American way to get everything we want. If politicians want to finance their campaigns they will find a way to do it.
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