Political Campaign Finance Reform Essay - 1895 Words

In a country where democracy is at the heart of all citizens, these citizens need to have a stronger voice when it comes to elections. This is why the implementation of an amendment that reforms the financing of campaigns is disputed greatly among scholars and political officials alike. The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are entitled to first amendment rights, but the basis of this ruling is unclear. Unfortunately the overturning of such a ruling would not even guarantee a restored democracy to American elections. Some professionals see corporations and hefty donating figures as an essential part of the election process, while others believe the Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee has taking many of the rights that the†¦show more content†¦It also goes further than that, in revealing a theory of corruption based not on facts, but instead an irrefutable truth depended upon, the 100,000 page record of an earlier court case McConnell v. FEC (Teachout). The author of the article finds this precedent to be a disturbing to set, especially when Campaign Reform is at the peak of its life-cycle. Such an example shows neglect for developed and well-thought-out evidence (Teachout). In the Citizens United v. FEC case, the proof of unconstitutionality was rooted in the experience of those who passed the law, and not acquired facts (Teachout). The choice to rule based on past understandings of corruption, instead of real-world instances of corruption, can possibly have freighting ramifications for the Supreme Court (Teachout). It has also made it nearly impossible to get a new Campaign Finance Reform Act passed due to the level of opinion that was taken in the decided the ruling of the Citizens United case. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) was enacted to regulate the influence of primary special interests groups. The BCRA did its job in limiting hard-money donation, or direct donations, but fails to limit soft money, not directly handled by candidates. Ivan Pastine and Tuvana Pastine, both well-renowned economists, took on the task of creating an equation evaluating the effect of a hard-money contribution cap on special interestShow MoreRelated Political Campaign Finance Reform Essay509 Words   |  3 Pageswithin a campaign. In order to enforce fairness between candidates, Congress created the Federal Election Committee (FEC), making the government the superior source of funds for Presidential elections. The FEC restricts the amount of money an individual can donate to a candidate and the amount that can be indirectly contributed. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Some would object to these limits because they feel that government money could be better spent on other issues rather then on the campaign andRead MoreSoft Money Essay609 Words   |  3 Pagescorrupt soft money system Common Cause President Scott Harshbarger At the basis of the campaign finance reform movement is the belief that everyone should have an equal say in the government, and that wealthy individuals or special interest groups should not be able to manipulate the system through excessive contributions to unduly influence elections. The more expensive it becomes to finance a campaign, the more important the money becomes, and subsequently the less involved the candidate becomesRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform and the Necessity of Democracy Essay1492 Words   |  6 PagesCampaign Finance Reform and the Necessity of Democracy One of the major notions of the American system of government is that it is a government by the people, for the people. The system is supposed to take into account the opinions and desires off all those who fall under its jurisdiction. This is said to be accomplished by a representative democracy, where citizens elect one of there own to speak for the group (Hastings, 04). Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that any eligible manRead MoreHistory Of The Campaign Finance1464 Words   |  6 PagesHistory of The Campaign-Finance in the U.S Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, campaign finance law is enacted by Congress and enforced by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an independent federal agency. Although more campaign spending is privately financed, public financing is available for qualifying candidates for President of the United States during both the primaries and the generalRead MoreCampaign Finance Debate770 Words   |  4 Pages  General Information The debate about campaign finance reform is not a new problem but has a long history of change. The first major debate over campaign finance arose from Andrew Jackson’s spoils system. During Andrew Jackson’s 1828 term, he would give out positions in his office to those who supported him during the election. The practice would inadvertently lead to the assassination of President James Garfield and create the first law that placed a restraint on relationships between donorsRead MoreThe Decision Making Process Of Governmental Officials1917 Words   |  8 Pagesprocess of governmental officials directly correlates with the status of the United States of America. Often society provokes questions regarding the ethicality of political decisions, specifically in terms of campaign finance reform. Because of the vulnerability of our country to succumb to corruption, the monetary contributions to fund campaigns is a great concern to many Americans. Many citizens see unlimited spending as a corruption of our government, and therefore promote the regulation of expendituresRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay3020 Words   |  13 Pagestheir campaign. Contributors range from unions, religious leaders, organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and senior citizens groups. When these groups, known as special interest groups, donate to candidate’s campaign, they expect the candidate to respond to their issues. Because special interest groups, as well as private citizens donate more and more money to campaigns, there is some concern that there is a great need for campaign financeRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay454 Words   |  2 PagesCampaign Finance Reform Campaign finance issues are complicated in the United States by the fact that the funding sources of the Republican and Democratic parties differ so sharply. As a result, any reforms intended to affect one kind of funding are likely to adversely and disproportionately affect one of the two parties. Furthermore, while most issues on which elected officials decide concern benefits for constituents. Campaign finance reform involves changing an institution that benefitsRead MoreThe First Step Towards Lasting Campaign Finance Reform2697 Words   |  11 PagesFinal Paper: The First Step Towards Lasting Campaign Finance Reform â€Å"You don t put vote Bartlet in the ad, you can pay for it with unmarked bills from a bank heist if you want to.† - Bruno Gianelli (Fictional character, The West Wing, S03E06, â€Å"Gone Quiet†)1 Debates about the just and proper financing of campaigns for public office can be traced as far back as the Federalist Papers. On one side are those that believe any restriction in the frequency or amount of individual, corporate orRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay1544 Words   |  7 PagesCampaign Finance Reform The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees for 1999 raised an astounding 126 million to finance their campaigns in the primaries (Godfrey). The U.S. national political parties raised a record 107.2 million dollars in soft money contributions in 1999 (Campaign Finance Reform). During the 1995-96 elections, public citizens estimated that an astounding 150 million dollars was spent on phony issue ads designed to support or oppose congressional and presidential