Money, Politics, and Power

The explosion of issue advocacy — money spent by individuals and independent groups to support political causes — threatens to make even an outright ban on “soft” money irrelevant. Worse, much of what passes for “issue advocacy” is really covert campaign financing. Still worse, it can’t be regulated.

While Congress is deadlocked, real campaign finance reform is moving ahead in the states.

D emocracy, many people have said, is a matter of faith, but why, dear Lord, must our faith be tested so often? Lately, the role of money in political campaigns has been mocking our civic creed. “Here the people rule,” we are taught, and we would like to think so. But if the voters (and […]

In pursuit of campaign finance reform, many seek to reverse the precedent established by the Supreme Court in 1975, protecting campaign expenditures as free speech. But if the Court’s ruling is overturned, the general protections of the First Amendment might be severely narrowed.