The Debate Over Campaign Finance Regulations

2100 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of media in political campaigns

Money is both the nectar and poison of the human race. This fact has never been more applicable than to modern politics. Nearly all assets to a candidate for political office, such a media advertisements, travel expenses and campaign supplies rely on fiscal support. In an age when electronic media rules supreme, money has never been more important. Today, it has become necessary for political campaigns to pour massive amounts of funding into television, Internet, radio and print ads in order to run a competitive campaign. These ads are the most prominent form of communication between a candidate and the sovereigns, and therefore, a candidate’s ability to use ads can not be inhibited. This correlation between money and politics has many unintended consequences, such as expanding the gap between fiscal classes, creating “professional” politicians, and jeopardizing the equality of the electorate. Equality is the right to be judged by only your peers, to be given a fair chance to experience life, liberty and to pursue happiness. Equality is giving the homeless as equal a voice as the wealthy. America was built on the firmly held belief that all citizens are equal, however, it is inevitable in any capitalistic society that class divisions will form. But the power of each class is controllable with legislation concerning campaign finance. The debate over how political campaigns should be financed culminated with the recent Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee, however many concerns still remain.

On April 6th, 1972 a handful of CREEP staffers worked late alongside with the staff of the General George Olmstead bank in Washington DC (Smith 3). The staffers were tasked with depositing several millions of...

... middle of paper ...

...eum.info/roman-empire/roman-republic-timeline.htm.

Roman Empire, The. Roman Society. http://www.roman-empire.net/society/society.html.

Smith, Rodney A. Money, Power & Elections: How Campaign Finance Reform Subverts American Democracy. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006.

Smitha, Frank. Why did the Roman Empire Fall?. http://www.fsmitha.com/com/Rome.htm.

Smith, Ronald. The Fall of the Roman Republic. Suite101.com. http://www.suite101.com/content/the-fall-of-the-roman-republic-a114405.

Vital, Nick. The Roman Constitution. http://www.uah.edu/student_life/organizations/SAL/texts/misc/romancon.html.

Walberg, Robert. How to buy into the oil boom. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P114413.asp.

Washington Post. BP agrees to $20 billion fund for gulf oil spill claims. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/16/AR2010061602614.html.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of How American Politics Went Insane

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Double edge sword is what lies at the heart of Roach’s issue with the American political system. While the public’s trust for their elected officials continues to disintegrate because of backroom deals and a poor transparency, it is exactly what the American political system requires its participants to do in order to be effective deal makers and according Roach, “Campaign contributions and smoke-filled rooms, pork is a tool of democratic governance, not violation of it. It can be used for corrupt purposes but also, for vital ones.” Roach argues that the public must take the good with the bad, they do not have to like it or agree with it, but they must see the importance that each side plays. Roach believes that it has been within the past 40 years that publics growing mistrust for the American political system has pushed toward favoring disintermediation, populism, and self-expression over professionals and political insiders.

    Read More

  • Jay Cooke Robber Barons

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    The late 19th century and early 20th century was the age of big businesses. It bore a class of entrepreneurs known as robber barons. These entrepreneurs carry a perception in the eyes of most historical commentators that they committed veiled larceny acts to enrich themselves to the detriment of the customers, often seeking the aid of politicians to support their crony capitalist endeavors. Such portrayal by the historians lives us with the picture of greedy and exploitative capitalists. However, there are cases where this ‘robber baron’ string of entrepreneurs did indeed exploit their customers financial gain. Jay Cooke, famously known as the ‘financier of the Civil War’, was an example of this string of entrepreneurs and their reaches within the United States government.

    Read More

  • Citizens United v. FEC: United We Stand, Corporations and All

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction In January of 2010, the United States Supreme Court, in the spirit of free speech absolutism, issued its landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, marking a radical shift in campaign finance law. This ruling—or what some rightfully deem a display of judicial activism on the part of the Roberts Court and what President Obama warned would “open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit in.elections” —effectively and surreptitiously overturned Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and portions of McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, struck down the corporate spending limits imposed by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and extended free speech rights to corporations. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief historical overview of campaign finance law in the United States, outline the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, and to examine the post-Citizens United political landscape. Campaign Finance in the United States During the Gilded Age—a period that began in the 1870s wherein the United States experienced tremendous economic growth—affluent industrialists such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew W. Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie exercised, owing in large part to their wealth, enormous influence over the direction of American politics. Though left unaddressed during the Gilded Age, the issue of corporate involvement in political affairs was eventually identified as a corrosive problem in President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 State of the Union address.

    Read More

  • Robert Latham Owen, Jr.: Cherokee Senator

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    Owen, Robert, and Gertrude Coogan. "Foreward." In Money creators. Hawthorne, Calif.: Omni Publications, 1967. 1-2.

    Read More

  • Essay On Rita Crundwell

    2073 Words  | 5 Pages

    Rita Crundwell was the trusted comptroller and treasurer of Dixon, Illinois with a passion for horses. She took advantage of her trust and responsibility to commit the largest known municipal fraud in the history of the United States. This fraudster has surprised and astounded people around the world by the amount of the fraud and for how long it went. Rita served the small town of Dixon from 1983 to 2012 until sentenced to nearly twenty years in federal prison for embezzling an astonishing $53.7 million. The story of this Dixon Commissioner shocked her small town and is studied by auditors all over.

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson A Good Or Bad President Essay

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    After he was elected as the president of the United States, the corruption with financial business got his full attention that he had to warn the nation that “Special Privilege,” which is the Second Bank of the United States, has corrupted it.[2] In this

    Read More

  • Congressional Oversight in American Politics

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stemming from a loose interpretation of the Constitution – and specifically the necessary and proper clause -- congressional oversight is one of many enumerated powers bestowed upon Congress per Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. As the legislative body, Congress is charged with overseeing the inner workings of the Executive Branch and its federal agencies as a part of a system of checks and balances. However, as previously mentioned, this power is one of the implied powers of Congress, thus making it very difficult for many to delineate rightful oversight from reckless meandering. In the Constitution, for example, there is no singular mention of a definitive power such as “congressional oversight.” Consequently, there is no clear set of goals or practices through which Congress can oversee the executive branch. This is where things can become slightly tricky, however.

    Read More

  • Campaign Finance Reform

    2679 Words  | 6 Pages

    Campaign finance reform has a broad history in America. In particular, campaign finance has developed extensively in the past forty years, as the courts have attempted to create federal elections that best sustain the ideals of a representative democracy. In the most recent Supreme Court decision concerning campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Court essentially decided to treat corporations like individuals by allowing corporations to spend money on federal elections through unlimited independent expenditures. In order to understand how the Supreme Court justified this decision, however, the history of campaign finance in regards to individuals must be examined. At the crux of these campaign finance laws is the balancing of two democratic ideals: the ability of individuals to exercise their right to free speech, and the avoidance of corrupt practices by contributors and candidates. An examination of these ideals, as well as the effectiveness of the current campaign finance system in upholding these ideas, will provide a basic framework for the decision of Citizens United v. FEC.

    Read More

  • Government and Politics - We Need Election Reform in America

    1765 Words  | 4 Pages

    A candidate cannot legitimately compete in modern American elections without being able to finance a huge television advertising campaign. Commercials have become an integral part of our...

    Read More

  • Campaign Finance Reform

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    People always tell you that there are two subjects never to bring up at a dinner party, one is religion and the other is politics. Why is that? It is because both subjects invoke very strong emotions. Rather than saying something inappropriate, most people avoid talking about religion altogether. But get those same people in a room and ask their political opinions, that is a different story. For many reasons, people are vocal about their political beliefs (Bentz, 2013). Unfortunately, individuals will judge people by their political beliefs first, without notice to other important aspects of their lives. And that is the reason that politics is not brought up in dinner parties.

    Read More

  • America's Democracy

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Works Cited Hudson, William E. American Democracy in Peril: Eight Challenges to America’s Future – Fourth Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004. Landy, Marc and Sidney M. Milkis. American Government: Balancing Democracy and Rights.

    Read More

  • Interest Groups and Political Parties

    1676 Words  | 4 Pages

    The advocacy explosion is strongly linked to the decline of the American political party and the role of the political parties in elections. As interest groups have gained more power and had a larger control over politics and political goods the power that is exerted by political parties has dwindled. The power of the interest group has grown larger with the amount of members and the financial rewards that have come with the new members. In elections interest groups do not usually participate directly with the candidate or the election. Berry points out that “Groups often try to leverage their endorsement to obtain support for one of their priorities” (Berry, 53). With interest groups spreading their resources around the actual election can be affected very minimally by the many interest groups that contribute money to the election. However, the candidates who obtain political office through the help of special interest money still owe some sort of loyalty to the interest group regardless of which party wins the election. This loyalty and the promise of more money in the future gives the elected of...

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson and the Bank War

    2332 Words  | 5 Pages

    2) Davis, Gareth. The Destruction of the Second Bank of the United States Rationale and

    Read More

  • Should Campaign Funding be Limited?

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    The issue of campaign financing has been discussed for a long time. Running for office especially a higher office is not a cheap event. Candidates must spend much for hiring staff, renting office space, buying ads etc. Where does the money come from? It cannot officially come from corporations or national banks because that has been forbidden since 1907 by Congress. So if the candidate is not extremely rich himself the funding must come from donations from individuals, party committees, and PACs. PACs are political action committees, which raise funds from different sources and can be set up by corporations, labor unions or other organizations. In 1974, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) requires full disclosure of any federal campaign contributions and expenditures and limits contributions to all federal candidates and political committees influencing federal elections. In 1976 the case Buckley v. Valeo upheld the contribution limits as a measure against bribery. But the Court did not rule against limits on independent expenditures, support which is not coordinated with the candidate. In the newest development, the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ruling from April 2014 the supreme court struck down the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute during a two-year period to all federal candidates, parties and political action committees combined. Striking down the restrictions on campaign funding creates a shift in influence and power in politics and therefore endangers democracy. Unlimited campaign funding increases the influence of few rich people on election and politics. On the other side it diminishes the influence of the majority, ordinary (poor) people, the people.

    Read More

  • The American Political System

    660 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Political System The American political system is a federal system, which consists of

    Read More

More about The Debate Over Campaign Finance Regulations

Open Document