The Journal

Issue date: 3/22/07 Section: Opinion/Editorial

Angela Ludwinski

In politics, money is everything. It determines who will be able to have the most face time with the American people. It adds advertising to campaigns, allows for people and companies to openly back candidates and essentially determines the outcome of elections.


There can be great potential for abuses because companies and political action committees can expect something in return from the candidate they supplied money to, basically buying their vote. Lesser-known candidates have a smaller chance of winning elections because they are less likely to receive contributions for their campaigns.


The only way to stop this problem of corruption and to allow more candidates in the political spectrum is to have publicly funded elections. The money for this comes from a voluntary box that can be checked on the U.S. tax return, giving $3 of your refund to contribute to publicly funded elections.


Steps are being taken in the right direction. Recently, potential democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has promised to accept public funding in the general presidential election if the Republican nominee does the same. Of course, this is contingent upon Obama receiving the Democratic nomination. For a presidential candidate to receive public funding in a general election, they may not receive any private contributions. However, the Federal Election Committee approved Obama's request to begin raising private funds for the primary and general election with the option to return general election funds if he and the opposing candidate both opt to take public funds.


Normally, it is a sign of weakness for a presidential candidate to accept public funds in the general election. They cannot raise enough money through private donors to actually have a chance of support and winning. If both candidates promise to take public funds, no one is shown to be weak.


Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is following in Obama's footsteps. He has stated he too will use public funds in the general election if his opposing candidate will do the same. McCain is no stranger to campaign finance reform. He and Russ Feingold sponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which eliminated soft money contributions from political action committees. Soft money is funds given to a specific party but not those given to support a particular candidate.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools