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The Pros And Cons Of Campaign Finance Reform

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Given the recent Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. F.E.C., the impact of money on the political process has reached levels that America has never seen before. In the 2012 general election, more than 2 billion dollars were spent on the Presidential race alone, a number that will only continue to grow if the system of campaign financing is not reformed. Activists fighting for this cause, hereafter referred to as Reformers, give a number of options for how to fix a system that they see as broken. Strict caps on campaign spending and public financing of campaigns are two tools Reformers often cite for better ensuring that the influence of interest groups is limited and that the politicians elected are more focused on creating meaningful …show more content…

If this were true, we would see that lawmakers would more often act in ways that benefit their electors rather than their donors. Corruption would be low, and there would be a distinct lack of crony capitalism.
Crony capitalism is a dysfunction in which the successes of private capitalist enterprises tend to stem from generous treatment by the government, usually through a purposeful lack of taxation and regulation on the industries in question. If we take a look at The
Economist’s 2014 Crony Capitalism Index, we see that the United States ranks second in the developed Western World in a measure of how strongly moneyed interests are tied up in politics, and the degree to which they leverage their influence. This index is not by any means the ultimate decider of how corrupt a government is, but it does go to show that from a numerical standpoint, the United States federal government is much more closely tied to wealthy individuals and interest groups than the vast majority of its
Western counterparts.
The argument could be made that this study was performed in 2014, after the …show more content…

“The Revolving Door of
Washington” is a long-standing trope of American politics by which legislators become lobbyists and vice versa. Whether it is Obama’s appointment of ex-Comcast lobbyist Tom
Wheeler to chairmanship of the Federal Communcations Commission, or the immediate lucrative hire of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor by an investment bank that he had been regulating on the House Financial Services Committee, the symbiotic relationship of government and interest groups is not simply the result of a single 2010 court case. These findings are indicative that congressmen will not always do right by their district, and that many congressmen hold ulterior motives in their office, which points to the fact that the job performance of a federal legislator is not independent of interest groups or the manner in which lawmakers are elected. In this case, the manner in which the legislator is elected does play a role in how they legislate. If candidates were not burdened by the fundraising process, and were not permitted to take any money (directly or via Super-
PAC) from interest groups, the focus of the election would dramatically switch.

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Lee H. Hamilton, a former congressman in the House of Representatives, wrote, The Case for Congress, to share some of the criticisms he has heard over the years and to explain the effects of such opinions. Hamilton speaks of three main criticisms: “Congress is run by lobbyists and special interests”, “Congress almost seems to promote total gridlock”, and “There’s too much money in Politics” (Hamilton 2004). For each of these criticisms, Hamilton explains these thoughts and his opinion on the matter. The strongest point of Hamilton’s argument was in defending the lobbyists in Congress. Hamilton (2004) said the public opinion of lobbyists is that “Congress is manipulated by powerful wheel-dealers who put pressure on legislators and buy votes through extensive campaigns and other favors” (p. 83).

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FEC determined that there would no longer be limitations on independent expenditures by corporations, so the Court of Appeals ruled that since corporations are able to spend freely and independently, the government “can have no legitimate anti-corruption interest in limiting contributions made for the purpose of funding such expenditures” (Chalmers, 60). Therefore, the contribution limits placed on organizations and political committees were ruled unconstitutional. iii. Effects The Citizen’s United case had quite an influence on the court’s ruling, as they wrote that the “arguments before Citizens United, …plainly have no merit after Citizens United….Contributions to groups that make only independent expenditures cannot corrupt or create the appearance of corruption” (Murse).

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According to information provided by The Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan non-profit organization whose goal is increasing transparency and accountability in the United States Congress, political action committees, employees and their family members of interests in the three sectors have contributed more than $51 million over the years to lawmakers either on committees overseeing the reform process or closely involved with crafting

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Over the last few decades, the United States Congress has debated numerous campaign finance reforms. Debated proposals have included limiting independent expenditures, raising limits on individual contributions, banning all private campaign contributions, and creating a public financing campaign system. In many of the debates, compelling arguments exist for both the proponents and the opponents. Generally, arguments are predicated upon constitutional concepts, Supreme Court rulings, standard policy, logic and reason, and personal perspectives.

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The Citizens United Ruling made by Supreme Court in 2010 only made the issue of money ruling the elections worse. Its main effects, stated in the video, “paved the way” for big corporations or unions to spend as much money as they feel necessary in elections and the political process. They can utilize this rule through advertisements, messages, and many different ways of communication to potential and up and coming voters. It changed the way campaigns were carried out by not only putting a bigger emphasis on the political spending from candidates and outside organizations, but also in a sense demerits the aspect of democracy, with having the amount money spent on a campaign be noticed more than the voices of the people. Voting does not really represent the country, but rather, represents the rich and powerful of the country.

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During the Gilded Age, corruption was an ever-persistent problem, however, it is a continuing problem in the contemporary period as well. It is unfortunate that often times the politicians would be paid to have the wealthy’s interest take precedence over the needs of the less fortunate. This meant that decisions made by politicians were more about pleasing the wealthy elites than serving the greater good. Corruption might not be so obvious to some. It is not just seen obviously with politicians being paid off for their own agenda.

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Politicians who avoided taking strong positions on whether they were pro or anti-trust were seen as cowards who would rather cater to big business than ensure the welfare of citizens. However, politicians were also reluctant to take action because they were being influenced by these corporations. A political illustration that arose at this time titled “The Bosses of the Senate”, demonstrates the ease at which monopolists were able to influence political decisions - or lack thereof (Document 3). The illustration depicts several industries-copper, steel, oil, iron, and coal- as bags of money hovering over senators at their desks. During this era, monopolists were able to buy state legislatures, which directly appointed senators to congress, and controlled which senators were in office through bribery, intimidation, and threats.

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This can make the American democracy stronger, because this gives an opportunity for Americans to have better access to their government. But it seems that they only look and think about their personal opinions and not for the majority’s needs. It has been reported that interest groups have committed serious crimes such as bribery, corruption and fraud. Some lobbying firms hire former government officials as members of their staff and they possess knowledge about how to pass legislation for their sponsors. Its flaws like these that have fueled America’s economic decline.

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This essay will discuss the impact of lobbyist on legislation in Washington, DC and the amount of dollars spent to influence federal policies. Throughout a normal day in Washington DC, the hustle and bustle of lobbyist is taking place in the Capital building, White House and along K Street, which is the home of many of the lobbying firms. There are special interest groups, corporations and industries that hire in-house lobbyist or lobbyist firms to influence legislation to benefit their cause. For example, some of these causes may include, but are not limited to tax breaks, subsidies and changes to current regulations or laws.

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1375 Words | 6 Pages

Having been around since the 1940’s, Political Action Committees (PACs) are private organizations that help raise money for candidates or issues and are largely restricted in terms of how much individuals could contribute to their candidate. The Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission forever changed politics, as it declared that corporation/unions prohibited from spending money for political purposes was a violation of their First Amendment right as well as well as the caps being placed on those individuals. As a result, super PACs were created; placing absolutely zero limits on how much money could be raised or spent and prohibiting individuals from coordinating with the campaign directly although it isn’t the case the majority of

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Correspondingly to the rising corruption in government, President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech addressing the issue of rising corruption and what the government has done to end said corruption (Doc. 2). President Roosevelt informs the audience that the government has put regulations on business corporations as a solution to alarming monopolies and political machines (Doc. 2). When analyzing President Theodore Roosevelt’s speech at Rhode Island, it is evident that the purpose is to convince the audience that the government is trying to protect the citizens from big businesses by placing regulations. Furthermore, when inspecting the voting system, Americans spotted flaws that made the system not as just as it was perceived. It is unmistakable that voting is corrupt because many citizens suffer through the pressure of being subconsciously forced to vote for their alderman (Doc.1).

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Today, much like in the Gilded Age, political corruption is evidently clear. As a new President was elected in 2016, the promises of “draining the swamp of corruption in Washington” and fixing “a rigged system in which political insiders can break the

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Elected officials must balance the wishes of the overall electorate, specific constituencies within the Congress, and their own ideology. The relative importance of those competing factors remains an open question (Levitt, 1996). According to Fenno legislators make their decisions based off of three primary goals: reelection, good public policy, and influence (Smith, et al., 2013). Mayhew argues that Fenno's first goal, reelection, is in fact the only goal. His reasoning is that congressional members are constantly scared or worried with the thought of losing the next election round.

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Dating back to its inception Congress “has never been a place for paupers (Lightblau, 5).” With each change in the country, the United States Congress rarely deviated away from its long-standing tradition of having wealthy, white men heavily represented in both chambers. Individuals who were elected ranged from “plantation owners, industrialists, ex- Wall Street financiers and Internet executives (Lightblau, 5).” Research conducted shows that “the typical member of Congress is worth more than nine times the typical voter that puts them in Washington (Thompson, 2).”

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Campaign Donations, Corruption, and Campaign Finance Legislature By Addie Political donations are commonplace in our modern society, as are corporations. These two things are rather intertwined. However, corporate campaign donations can be very bad. There is also a debate within this topic, with some believing campaign finance legislation should be strict, and some believing it should be more lax. Political donations corrupt democracy by taking power away from the people and giving it to corporations, and much legislation concerns this topic.

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