Campaign Funding

Campaign Funding

By: Matt

E-mail: imacakeboy@aol.com

What We Don't Know About Campaign Finance Does Hurt Us. "No matter what your social issue, if you want to solve it get the money out of politics. Only then will lawmakers vote for their people rather than their pocketbooks." Jack E. Lohman. Money corrupts politics, and when contributions are being made to candidates it is not in the best interest of the American people. Campaign Finance is out of control in today's political races. Candidates are taking money from wherever and whoever they can get it. Soft money is flowing through elections without care or caution. People who make these contributions do not share the views of the average citizen, so politicians end up representing the wrong people. Money decides races, sometimes leaving the better man but lighter spender out of a position. Candidates make decisions based on what will help them financially that what is better for the people. Contributions by industry are made not in the interest of the people, sometimes hurting them in ways they don't even know. No matter what the opposition may say campaign finance reform is needed urgently to keep our democracy as our founders intended it. People and corporations that make the largest donations to campaigns do not share views with the general population. Politicians will listen to those who give them money so that they can depend on that money being there again when it is time for reelection. Yet individual donors making a $200 dollar or more contribution make up only .33% of the population. This extremely small percentage of mostly wealthy individuals gain the power to influence politicians to their liking. The idea that these people should have power to affect government more than those with less money goes against the concept of equality for all, which is what made this country great. People who make large donations do not share the same views on most issues as the general population. Robert L. Borosage and Ruy Teixeira report that while 53 percent of voters want stricter regulations on businesses and corporations, to give workers a fair salary and working conditions, 58 percent of campaign donors want to see less control over the businesses and corporations of America. Donors also want less government spending with lower taxes, while the majority of citizens want a larger, more powerful government. A very tiny part of our population is giving money to campaigns telling candidates what they have to do to continue getting campaign contributions, yet these people do not represent the ideology and sentiment of the people as a whole. There must be a change in the way that campaigns are financed if democracy is to survive. If we do not reform campaign finance we will have politicians working only for those who can afford to contribute. Money is the major factor in any political race. It can sway a decision very strongly depending on how well it is used. In the House, the candidate who spends the most money on his or her campaign wins 92% of the time. Things are no different in the Senate, here 88% of the time the bigger spender wins. Incumbents are usually the tip money spender, because they raise more money. Paul Starr, writer for The American Prospect , estimates that it would take $1,000,000 for a challenger to defeat the incumbent. The only way a challenger could get this kind of money would be to appeal to big business and the wealthy, who have radically different ideas about government than the general public. A challenger, to even have a chance, would have to turn to business and wealth to win. With this great difficulty to de-seat an incumbent, turnover in congress drops, and members become stagnant, winning on name alone. All the while, they are giving breaks to the corporations and wealthy people who got them there. With campaigns finance reform, we could get challengers and incumbents on a level playing field so that the candidate with the better ideas who will honestly help the majority will end up the victor. It would not matter much where candidates got the money from for their campaigns except that when elected, politicians act on in accordance to the wishes of those who have made donations. 71% of citizens say that a politicians choices and votes are made on the basis of money. 61% of donors agree with this. Its been explained that a small percentage of people make donations, and these people do not represent the population as a whole. If politicians make decisions based on this small group of people they are not representing the entire population ,or doing what is best for the majority, as they were hired to do. Politicians realize where they get funding and work to please those with the money. Robert Reich estimates that half of all Americans with a million dollar a year income or greater have