Get Money Out Of Politics Now
We should get money out of politics. Everyone says it is corrosive and corrupts.
But ask any candidate who lost his last campaign if he could have used more money and I think he’ll say yes.
The problem is not too much money. The problem is narrowly focused sources of money. Narrow money doesn’t work. In plain English, narrowly focused funding sources empower special interests.
In one sense, we don’t like special interests because we are not part of the group. But if we were, we would ignore our own hypocrisy and cheer for our 1st Amendment rights.
There’s probably an algorithm for the correct balance of financial breadth and depth and its political influence.
You want more of the former (breadth) and less of the latter (depth).
That’s why candidates prefer small political donations but they know they are difficult to deal with. So they also like bundlers. Bundlers give the appearance of bringing in smaller donations but the candidate only has to deal with a few people who take credit for the contribution and get the privilege of presenting their position on issues as if they represented everyone who passed money through them.
But getting the right mix of broad support, small donations and sufficient capital to cover a campaign that…
