Campaign Finance Reform

the Web Editors 4-13-2016

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In demonstrations aimed at getting money out of politics, 85 people — many elderly — were arrested April 12 outside the Capitol, reports DCistThe protests are part of a weeklong series of demonstrations that seek to “make history and save our democracy,” according to the Democracy Spring website, which castigates “billionaires and big money interests” and advocates campaign finance reform.

Chuck Collins 3-01-2010
The Court promotes corporate rule over healthy democracy.
Myrna Pérez 1-22-2010

This week started off by honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and is ending with a Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, giving corporations unprecedented ability to affect election outcomes by declaring unconstitutional certain limitations on corporate expenditures on electioneering.

Marty Jezer 7-01-2004

Advocates of campaign finance reform approach the issue from two different strategic perspectives: Abolitionism and incrementalism. Abolitionists espouse comprehensive reform - full public financing that removes all private money from the electoral process. They see money in politics as a raging river - dam it at one point and it will create a new riverbed elsewhere. Under the name of the Clean Money, Clean Elections (CMCE) reform, public financing is successful law to varying degrees in four states.

A federal "clean elections" bill has been introduced that, like the state bills, gives public financing to qualified candidates who agree not to take campaign contributions from private sources (except for a limited number of small "qualifying" contributions that serve to establish eligibility for the full public stipend). Right now, the federal bill lacks the grassroots support to make it a pressing issue.

The difficulty of passing a comprehensive public financing bill is why many reformers choose the incremental approach. On the assumption that it is better to pass a limited bill than no bill at all, they hope to reform the system in stages. The 2002 McCain-Feingold bill (officially known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act or BCRA), is their primary accomplishment. It is meant to prohibit "soft money," the hundreds of millions of dollars that corporations, labor unions, and wealthy individuals launder through unregulated state parties for use in federal elections.

Many abolitionists predicted that McCain-Feingold would prove to be one big loophole that would spawn new conduits for soft money and dilute efforts to build popular support for comprehensive public financing.

Scott Harshbarger 5-01-2002
It takes real faith to make change happen.
Micah L. Sifry 9-01-2000

For activists dedicated to transforming the role that money plays in our politics, these are the best of times and the worst of times.

Protesting campaign finance corruption and the "dumb or dumber" choices of many current elections, activist filmmaker Michael Moore is asking Americans to vote for potted plants...

Bill Moyers 7-01-1998

Politics today has become an arms race, with money instead of missiles. The 1996 federal elections were the most expensive in history—costing approximately $2.2 billion—and that could be doubled by the year 2000. In an arms race the side with the most missiles wins. In politics the more money you have, the better your chance of election. One side escalates, and the other follows suit. Faster and faster, the spiral has been growing. Today this arms race is undermining our system of self-government.

When asked who really controls Washington, voters overwhelmingly answer special interests, as opposed to either Congress or the president. Nearly everyone thinks contributions affect the voting behavior of members of Congress. In another poll, only 14 percent of the people give members of Congress a high rating for honesty and ethical standards.

Is this what politics has become on the eve of the 21st century—a bunch of self-interested, lying windbags on the take from moneyed, special interests? On the one hand, these polls tell us that Americans are pretty smart and see through the pomp and circumstance that passes for news coverage by most of the media.

On the other hand, there is a terribly important warning here: Americans are disillusioned about politics. They are both alienated and apathetic. Fewer than half of us bother to vote in our presidential elections—compared to 80 percent a century ago—and only about a third in our congressional elections. People will tell you they feel betrayed, sold out by a political class of professional electioneers, big donors, lobbyists, and the media. What happens when so many people drop out of a system they no longer respect and they think no longer represents them?

Sharon Basco 5-01-1998
Real change may come through the courts.
Nick Nyhart 11-01-1995
Organizing for people-based politics.

Challenging the newest barrier to the right to vote.

Ellen S. Miller 11-01-1995
What campaign money buys, and who it sells out.
Gwen Patton 11-01-1995
How money determines policy.