Campaign Finance Reform: The History, Present, and Future

1805 Words4 Pages

Campaign Finance reform has been a topic of interest throughout the history of the United States Government, especially in the more recent decades. There are arguments on both sides of the issue. Proponents of campaign finance limits argue that wealthy donors and corporations hold too much power in elections and as a result they can corrupt campaigns. Those who favor less regulation argue that campaign donations are a form of free speech. One case in particular, Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission has altered everything with pertaining to Campaign Finance. Patronage was a prevalent part of early elections. During most of the early history of the United States, there was no legislation passed on behalf of campaign finance reform. The first time the federal government tried to regulate campaign finance reform was in 1867, when congress passed the navel appropriations bill. This bill made it illegal for government officials to solicit naval yard workers for money (Fuller). In 1907, the Tillman Act was passed. This act prohibits corporations and national banks from contributing money directly to presidential or congressional campaigns. This law only applied to general elections and was ineffective due to loopholes (Rowan). The Federal Corrupt Practices Act was passed in 1910. It requires House candidates to disclose campaign spending and the source of all campaign contributions. This Act was later amended in 1911 to make the act require that Senate candidates also follow the disclosure rules created by the law. The law was revised in 1925 to expand the list of who must file reports. The revision also states that these reports must be filed on a quarterly basis. The revision also mandates that all contributions over ... ... middle of paper ... ... election reform, people will just have to wait and see what the future of campaigns will be like. Works Cited Dowling, Conor M., and Michael Gerald Miller. Super PAC!: Money, Elections, and Voters after Citizens United. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print. Fuller, Jaime. "From George Washington to Shaun McCutcheon: A Brief-ish History of Campaign Finance Reform." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 03 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Rowan, Beth. "Campaign-Finance Reform: History and Timeline." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Rountree, Clarke. Venomous Speech: Problems with American Political Discourse on the Right and Left. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print. Sullivan, Kristin, and Terrance Adams. "SUMMARY OF CITIZENS UNITED V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION." Office of Legislative Research. N.p., 2 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

Citizens United v. FEC: United We Stand, Corporations and All
1052 Words | 3 Pages
In his address, Roosevelt asserted that corporate spending in federal elections had the potential to engender corruption—or the appearance thereof—and should consequently be prohibited. Not long after Roosevelt delivered the address, Congress passed the Tillman Act in 1907, which proscribed corporations from making direct contributions to federal candidates. Four decades later, Congress passed the Taft-Harley Act, which barred independent expenditures—or money spent on behalf of a candidate in a fashion that is unassociated with the candidate himself.
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Soft Moneys Elimination From Governmental Campaigns
1411 Words | 3 Pages
In 1907 it was considered illegal for any corporation to spend money in connection with a federal election. In 1947 it was illegal for labor unions to spend any money in connection with any federal election. And since 1974, it has been illegal for an individual to contribute more than $1,000 to a federal candidate, or more than $20,000 per year to a political party (Campaign Finance). Congress defined this as a way to prevent the influence of a candidate or federal election. The so-called “soft money” which is used to fund candidates’ elections is defined as money which violates the Federal Election Commission’s laws on federal elections. In laments terms a simple loophole was created by the FEC in 1978 through a ruling which allowed corporations to donate large amounts of money to candidates for “Party Building” purposes (Campaign Finance). In reality, the $50,000 to one million dollar donations gives the candidate the power to put on the most extravagant campaign money will buy. This loophole remained almost completely dormant in federal elections until the Dukakis campaign in 1988, then fully emerging in the later Bush campaign, which utilized millions of dollars of soft money(Soft Money). This aggressive soft money campaigning involved the solicitation of corporate and union treasury funds, as well as unlimited contributions from individuals, all of which were classified for “Party Building” purposes. The way the money flows is basically from the corporation or union to the political party which the donator favors. The spending of soft money is usually controlled by the political parties; however it is done in great coordination with the candidate. Aside from unions and corporations special interest groups have been large supporters of soft money. These groups band together for a candidates such as groups for, textiles, tobacco, and liquor. The textile giant Fruit of the Loom, successfully lobbied a campaign which stopped an extension of NAFTA benefits to Caribbean and Central American nations.
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Gerrymandering: Corruption Crippling the Country
1088 Words | 3 Pages
If you have ever seen the 435 congressional districts on a map you would probably think to yourself that it resembles something similar to one giant jigsaw puzzle. These districts vary in size and certainly in shape. Unlike how county lines are decided within states, the congressional districts change every ten years after the Census is released. Why do they have to change exactly? Well, the answer to that question receives the same frustrating answer heard again and again: It’s politics. The official name for the act of changing congressional lines to benefit a political party is “gerrymandering.” It has been the cause of many debates as well as many negative effects. Gerrymandering has had an unfair advantage in politics throughout history, as it has tarnished the system and should be changed.
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Voting Rights Act Pros And Cons
2349 Words | 5 Pages
Society cannot let factions become disenfranchised and lose their self determination. The United States, a country founded upon the ideals of freedom and individual prosperity, cannot hold unjust elections brought upon by the current dominant political party. President Johnson created a bipartisan effort to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, enriching democracy and continuing the American spirit of democratic values. Johnson united Congress with the simple message, “Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.” (Johnson) Today, the citizens of the United States must push Congress formulate an oversight measure to fix voter
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Argumentative Essay On Campaign Finance
353 Words | 1 Pages
Campaign finance refers to all funds raised to help increase candidates, political parties, or policy attempts and public votes. When it comes to political parties, generous organizations, and political action groups in the United States are used to collect money toward keep campaigns alive. Campaign finance always has problems when it comes to these involvements. These involvements include donating to candidate, parties and other political organization. Matthew J. Streb stated “instead of placing further restrictions on campaign donations to candidates, parties, and other political organizations, we should consider eliminating contribution restrictions entirely (Rethinking American Electoral Democracy)”. In other words, instead of allowing
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Campaign Finance Reform
2679 Words | 6 Pages
... outweigh this potential (but not proven) appearance of corruption. The real potential for corruption is related to direct contributions. However, the Court has imposed checks on this aspect of elections. It seems that any proposed system, even the current one, could be targeted as allowing for corruption, or for a disproportionate influence, or for a limitation on free speech. The important thing, therefore, is that the courts balance all these potential harms for the sake of protecting the democratic process and the First Amendment. The current system places checks in the areas where corruption is the most likely, and allows for the most expression in the areas where corruption is minimal at best. This gives citizens the great ability to influence elections and critically discuss candidates, while ensuring that politicians are accountable for their actions.
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Electoral College Reform
1903 Words | 4 Pages
Many people feel that this system is outdated, unfair and/or biased; that it should be replaced with the popular voting system. Unfortunately it is not as simple as...
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The Progresive Reform Movement
940 Words | 2 Pages
In order to combat political corruption the American government passed several amendments to the constitution. Two of these amendments were the 17th amendment and the 19th amendment. The 17th amendment created the direct election of Senators. Prior to the 17th amendment, the Senate was a corrupt house of government. Instead of representing its constituents, Senators represented the interests of their respective state party bosses. Although the 17th amendment was in the process of being created for nearly a century, it took the Progressive Movement to finally get it passed. Like the 17th amendment, the 19th amendment also changed the political culture in America. While the 17th amendment allowed for the direct election of senators nearly 50% of Americans...
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Campaign Finance Reform
690 Words | 2 Pages
The subject of campaign finance reform sounds so dull, but it is necessary to understand that reform helps to keep the society flowing smoothly. Therefore, what is the current status of campaign finance reform? In 2002 the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed by Congress. It was also known as the McCain-Feingold Act (Sidlow, 2013, p.213). It banned soft money at federal levels and regulated campaign ads from interest groups because the enormous amount of money spent by interest groups for their ads had the appearance of corruption (South University Online, 2013). There is so much money floating around right now that I fear the common man may soon have little say in what happens in this country. Now the super PACs and 501c's are spreading their influences too. Can reform be a realistic expectation of the American political process?
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Analysis Of Kenneth Vogel's Big Money
1391 Words | 3 Pages
December of 2010, in a five to four vote, it was decided that corporate funding of independants in in elections was protected under the first Amendment. This opened the floodgate for the 2012 elections as the candidates took to many platforms to raise money for their campaigns. Mitt Romney along with the help of Spencer Zwick raised 6.5 million dollars simply through a call-a-thon. The secret weapon in this call-a-thon was a program called ComMITT. This program allowed the user to solicit donations from contacts in their email, and online social networking sites. Any donation made fed directly back into the campaign, giving a real-time tally of pledges. With all of this information, one can make a decision for or against campaign finance contributions. Personally, I have conflicting feelings about limitations on campaign finance. I feel as though there should not be a limit for campaign finance contributions, but there should be more qualifications for becoming president. I do not believe there should be a limit on campaign finance because technically it is covered under freedom of speech. It is covered under freedom of speech. This is because giving money is showing
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Iron Triangle Interest Groups
889 Words | 2 Pages
Many people argue that the legislative branch is run by few big interest groups because of their massive contributions against very small contributions from individuals. In a democratic society, power must be shared equally among its citizens, but is that the case in the United States? The answer is simply no, and by limiting their overall spending on elections, policymakers will listen and pay more attention to the public interest over the special interest. Also, by revealing the freeloaders’ names, people will have more knowledge of who is representing them and who has tended to benefit those who made contributions to their campaigns. Finally, prohibiting the spending on food, entertainment and gifts to legislative branch employee will also reduce the corruption in the legislative
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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.
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2036 Words | 5 Pages
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Winston Churchill's Quote on Democracy
361 Words | 1 Pages
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The Roles of Social Media in Politics
1385 Words | 3 Pages
...in the politically process could be a reality. Once a person's vote is stolen their voice is lost and the votes could be sold for a profit. The challenge to the validity of our future elections could destroy the confidence in our electoral process.
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Campaign Finance Reform: The History, Present, and Future

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

Soft Moneys Elimination From Governmental Campaigns

Gerrymandering: Corruption Crippling the Country

Voting Rights Act Pros And Cons

Argumentative Essay On Campaign Finance