Mark Schmitt writes at DemocracyJournal.org about how campaign finance reform has run into the ditch, and about how it can heaved out, by the many, many hands of a small donor democracy. Mark's historical analysis of the reform movement is really interesting; more important, his six prescriptions are on the mark.
Encourage the healthier developments in politics, don't fight them: The reformers' recent battle over whether and how to extend the campaign finance laws to Internet-based political activity was harmful to the cause. On balance, the demonstrated growth of small donor democracy over the Internet, and its potential, outweighs the demonstrated and potential harm of circumvention of campaign finance restrictions through Internet-based political advertising.
Political organization is good: The reformers' drive since 2004 against the so-called 527 organizations likewise alienated erstwhile allies, this time in the nonprofit sector. In a nation of "joiners", fighting against the right of political association is not a winning strategy.
Don't overtax the "corruption" rationale: The criminalization of politics is a vicious cycle that serves democracy ill. More important to fighting corruption, and more uplifting to our politics, is to find ways to fund more challengers. Unopposed elections engender more venality than any deficiency of ethics and election law.
Accept that there is a place for private money in politics: This is one of the important -- and few -- ways in which political involvement can extend beyond the vote for most people. High-matching public funding systems multiply the value of a matching contribution, helping to offset the unequal distribution of wealth.
Don't dismiss the libertarian arguments: It's not enough to say "money isn't speech." Find a way to generate more speech, not less. Libertarians, by the way, are wrong to say disclosure alone is enough -- time, attention and the resources to sort through disclosed information are scarce. Most people don't know who is their Congressman, much less her backers.
Expand, don't restrict: The industry that is political campaigning is one of our smaller ones. How much money is enough to spend on selecting our leaders? If your goal is better government, it makes no sense to rule out the possibility that we should be spending more.
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