Campaign Finance Reform

With graft and corruption at an all time high-you bet your bippy we'd better take this issue seriously.We the PEOPLE are no longer represented by most of our elected officials.They are way too busy going on free trips,flying and traveling first class,sipping rare cognac and eating caviar to be in touch with the working Joe or Jane.Their sense of reality is warped,their integrity non-existant.They owe favors to Lobbies and they want to keep livin "the good life" at the expense of you & I.Our Government must NOT be for sale to the highest bidder!Power corrupts,and if we don't clean house,and clean it NOW- we're screwed.

Very very important issue.

I agree with Virile- I'm against anything that intereferes with Americans supporting their political causes. That's why this issue is so important.

How long are the politicians going to talk about this one. It should happen but it probably never will because you have the foxes in with the chickens. They are shallow all they know is the more money they raise and spend, the better their chances are of being elected. As long as congress can approve its own raises, there will never be campaign finance reform. Funny how welfare reform is a big topic but not this one.

There is a lot of confusion over campaign finance reform. First, one must understand that money is essentially capitalized labor (ie labor converted to dollars). When one limits how much money another can spend on political causes, issues and candidates, one is limiting how much time can be spent on same. Money spent on political matters is also a form of speech, so it doesn't really matter how noble or beneficial limitations on campaign financing are, it simply is irrelevant. The 1st Amendment represents our statement and belief that the dangers of allowing the government to control speech are so great, that we have banned virtually all governmental limitations since they can't be trusted. The campaign finance reform clearly falls into the not to be trusted category.

It's an important issue. Money plays far too important of a role in politics. Reform sounds good, but look what happened with the McCain-Feingold bill.

Repeal the reforms just past, as well as all the crap for the past couple of decades.

Oh, yeah...more and more of the biggest waste to time of the past decade. Gee, that campaign finance law really kept the parties from raking in the bucks, didn't it? Simpletons. Sheep. Democrats...and this time independents, too.

Corporate corruption, bribery, cronyism, corrupt politicians, bias, favoritism, lying, misleading, meglamanism, monopolys, agendas, lobbists, strip mining, deforestation, polluted water, dirty air, media control, workers rights, healthcare, medicare, medicade, pharmecuticals, social security and soft money are just a few good reasons for campaign finance reform.

FINALLY WE CAN GET THE BIG BUISNESSES OUT OF GOVERNMENT. POLITICIANS ACCEPTING MONEY TO VOTE A CERTAIN WAY IS NOT FREE-SPEECH ITS CORRUPTION!!!!!

Politicians make far too much and do way too little, just like lawyers.

Dubya wouldn't have been able to steal the election if he didn't have so much money. I'm glad that McCain attempted to pass this radical reform.

Campaign finance reform has incurred a fiery debate over our first amendment rights--where does the right begin and abuse begin? Certainly, since the 1975 Supreme Court decision legalizing PACs, big money has taken the control of our government that it possessed before the stock market crash in 1929. In our current system, the unfair advantage that money yields to a citizen (or non-citizen) should be of paramount concern--the average sweet little grandmother dependent on Social Security, regardless of her own wisdom, is ultimately denied a voice beyond her vote. Yet the rich mogul who boasts of twenty million dollars a year can virtually buy Congresspersons and Senators, getting whatever they wish (as they did in the 1980s. The tax code passed under Reagan gave huge tax cuts to corporations--some companies got refunds amounting to more than they had ever paid into the system in the first place.) Money has corrupted out system, and some of its influence must be cut off. So long as... Read more

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM IS AN ABRIDGEMENT OF OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS. I THINK A LOT OF GOOD PEOPLE ARE MISGUIDED WHEN IT COMES TO THIS ISSUE, AND DON'T RECOGNIZE THE POTENTIALLY HARMFUL RAMIFICATIONS THAT COULD RESULT FROM SUCH LEGISLAITON.

I believe that campaign finance reform is completely unconstitutional. Basically, what it does is restrict peoples and corporations freedom of speech through putting caps on political spending. McCain means well, but he is wrong on this. I define politics as many interest groups competeing for attention. It is their right to do this, since most of the time, these groups are citizens who group together to spread a certain message effectively throughout the country. I would remove all restriction on campaign finance reform, but I would mandate public disclosure of all monies given to politicians by interest groups. This will tell people where a politician stands.

Campaign finance reform is the single worst piece of legislation on the docket today. The idea that government should regulate political speech would make the Founders of this country furious. I'm a solid GWB supporter who would have preferred Gore over McCain b/c I think his bill is so short-sighted. The 1974 regulations that were supposed to clean up the system did the absolute opposite, and this goes further down that road. The only people that would benefit from campaign finance reform a la McCain-Feingold would be incumbant politicians (who can get airtime for their views for free via news shows) and the media establishment (who don't like independent issue groups running ads that they don't get to write). Of course, I'd be fully in favor of reforming campaign finance by removing existing restrictions, which I think would create a much more dynamic and vibrant political scene. But I know that's not what we're talking about so long as the media swoons at every tantrum John M... Read more