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You could also send an email to the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Stewards" class="extiw" title="m:Special:MyLanguage/Stewards">stewards</a> <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VRT" class="extiw" title="m:Special:MyLanguage/VRT">VRT</a> queue at <kbd>stewards@wikimedia.org</kbd> including all above details. </p> </div> <p>Other useful links: <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_blocks" class="extiw" title="m:Global blocks">Global blocks</a> · <a href="/wiki/Help:I_have_been_blocked" title="Help:I have been blocked">Help:I have been blocked</a> </p> </div></li></ul><hr /> <div id="viewsourcetext">You can view and copy the source of this page:</div><textarea readonly="" accesskey="," id="wpTextbox1" cols="80" rows="25" style="" class="mw-editfont-monospace" lang="en" dir="ltr" name="wpTextbox1">== Criticism == Reasons offered for why "big money" in politics (campaign contributions and high level lobbying from corporations and the wealthy) should be regulated include: it *"results in corruption";<ref name=Rochester-2020>{{cite web |title=Corporate Money in Politics Threatens US democracy--or does it? |first1=David |last1=Primo |first2=Jeffrey |last2=Milyo |date=July 6, 2020 |url=https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/does-money-in-politics-threaten-us-democracy-442802/ |access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref> (i.e., “quid pro quo corruption”, or bribery);<ref name=Brennen-Democracy-Fully5-4>{{cite web |title=Democracy: An Election Agenda for Candidates, Activists, and Legislators. Five to Four: A Different Approach to Campaign Finance Cases |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/democracy-election-agenda-candidates-activists-and-legislators |access-date=3 December 2022 |pages=22|publisher=The Brennan Center for Justice }}</ref> *harms trust in government;<ref name=Rochester-2020/> *decreases public interest in public affairs and government;<ref name=Rochester-2020/> *gives powerful corporations and wealthy individuals leverage to not just express their political views or support for a candidate, but to "reshape the American economy in their favor", favoring lower taxes and smaller government over public spending to improve policing, public schools, environmental protection, employment opportunities, that very high income groups naturally have less interest in being protected by their own private security, their children attending private schools, enjoying scenic beauty and recreation on their country clubs and estates.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Symposium - Everyone's Fight The New Plan to Defeat Big Money: How Big Money Corrupts the Economy |date=Winter 2003 |issue=27 |journal=Democracy, Journal of Ideas |first1=Jacob S.|last1= Hacker|first2=Nathan|last2= Loewentheil| url=https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/27/how-big-money-corrupts-the-economy/ |access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref> *wastes economic resources on "[[rent-seeking]]," as players in the private sector spend time and money "trying to get a bigger piece of the economic pie for themselves" (in the form of tax cuts, subsidies, cuts in regulation and other special favors that the elected officials they donate to can provide), instead of focusing on enlarging the pie itself (with "productive economic activity" such as new inventions and better, cheaper goods and services).<ref name=cap-rent-seeking>{{ Cite web |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-campaign-contributions-and-lobbying-can-lead-to-inefficient-economic-policy/ |title=How Campaign Contributions and Lobbying Can Lead to Inefficient Economic Policy Report |date= May 2, 2014 |publisher=Center for American Progress |access-date=30 October 2022|first1=John|last1=Craig|first2= David|last2=Madland}}</ref> ===Solutions/Reforms=== {{see|Campaign finance reform in the United States}} *Public financing. A traditional solution offered to dilute the power of a few donors giving large political contributions was to put limits on campaign spending. Following court rulings such as [[Citizens United v. FEC]], putting an end to some of these limits, reformers such as [[The Brennan Center for Justice]] have suggested encouraging "small donor public financing", by using public funds to match and multiply small donations" (see below).<ref name="Brennen-why">{{cite web |title=Public campaign financing. Why it matters |date=August 22, 2012 |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/public-campaign-financing |access-date=26 November 2022 }}</ref> Other proposals for "fixing" the influence of money in politics in the United States made by at least one reform group (the Brennan Center) include *Fully Disclose All Political Spending. As of 2018, disclosure laws "fail to regulate political advertising on the internet create the potential for a massive increase in undisclosed online spending".<ref name=Brennen-Democracy-Fully>{{cite web |title=Democracy: An Election Agenda for Candidates, Activists, and Legislators |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/democracy-election-agenda-candidates-activists-and-legislators |access-date=3 December 2022 |pages=23–24|publisher=The Brennan Center for Justice }}</ref> In state and local elections, where there is much less political money, "a dark money expenditure as low as $100,000, or even $10,000 — pocket change for special interests — can easily dominate an election".<ref name=Brennen-Democracy-Fully/><ref name=n.146>"Secret Spending in the States", Chisun Lee, Katherine Valde, Benjamin T. Brickner, and Douglas Keith, p.17.</ref> *Close fundraising loopholes for candidates and officeholders. Super PACs, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of candidates, but are supposed to be “independent” of those candidates. In fact "many super PACs were run by candidates’ top aides" or close associates". "Politicians fundraised prominently for their “independent” groups and even appeared in their ads. In addition, "a new breed of tax-exempt nonprofits has proliferated, boosting politicians — and their policies — while in office." They "raise unlimited, undisclosed funds". Brennan suggests "no more appearances by candidates at 'independent' fundraisers", and "a cooling off period before advisers jump to super PAC staff, and so on".<ref name=Brennen-why/><ref name=Brennen-Democracy-Fully2>{{cite web |title=Democracy: An Election Agenda for Candidates, Activists, and Legislators |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/democracy-election-agenda-candidates-activists-and-legislators |access-date=3 December 2022 |pages=24–25|publisher=The Brennan Center for Justice }}</ref> *Reform the Federal Election Commission. In 2016, panel votes on enforcement matters deadlocked roughly 1 time in 3, "according to former FEC Commissioner [[Ann Ravel]], "10 times more often than a decade ago. In 2016, the agency levied less than $600,000 in penalties, a 90 percent drop over the same time." Brennan suggests adding another (non-partisan) commissioner to end the evenly balanced bipartisan structure, and giving the commission a chief administrative officer for a fixed term of four to six years, etc.<ref name=Brennen-Democracy-Fully3>{{cite web |title=Democracy: An Election Agenda for Candidates, Activists, and Legislators |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/democracy-election-agenda-candidates-activists-and-legislators |access-date=3 December 2022 |pages=25–6|publisher=The Brennan Center for Justice }}</ref> ====Criticism of solutions==== At least many conservatives such as former Secretary of Education [[Betsy DeVos]]<ref name="Mayer-Dark-2016-234">{{cite book |last1=Mayer |first1=Jane |title=Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the |date=2016 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |pages=234–5 |isbn=9780385535601 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5nrCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22when+w.+clement+stone+an+insurance+magnate+and+philanthropist%2C+gave+%242+million+to+Richard+M.+Nixon%27s+1972+campaign%2C+it+caused+public+outrage%22&pg=PT30 |access-date=30 December 2022}}</ref> and James Bopp of [[The Heritage Foundation]], maintain legal restrictions on money in politics are an unjust restriction on free speech that should be opposed as a matter of principle. Bopp writes that "there may be too little money spent during political campaigns, not too much", because government is larger and more powerful than it should be, and at least often agree that campaign finance reform limiting spending on political campaigns is an unconstitutionally limit on "citizens' freedom of speech and association".<ref name=Unconstitutional>{{cite book|publisher=Heritage Foundation|url=https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/campaign-finance-reform-the-good-the-bad-and-the-unconstitutional |title=Campaign Finance "Reform": The Good, The Bad and the Unconstitutional |author=James Boop |date=19 July 1999 }}</ref> DeVos compares restrictions on campaign finance to the tyranny of [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'s "[[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]]", and defends the use of money to buy political influence in the service of conservative governance and "traditional American virtues".<ref>{{cite news|title=Soft Money Is good: Hard Earned American Dollars that Big Brother Has Yet to Find a Way to Control|agency=Roll Call | date=6 September 1997 }}</ref> On a more practical level, Contrarians (David Primo and Jeffrey Milyo) argue that the public has been deceived by "the incessant message" propagated by 'the media, politicians, reform groups, and scholars", that money in politics is bad. In fact this public disapproval comes from Americans being fed up with politics in general and money is actually "just a convenient bugaboo". Furthermore, many things the public believes about corruption in politics are not true. Experts on campaign finance are much less cynical than the public about the nefarious influence of money in politics.<ref name=Rochester-2020/> "Legal scholars and social scientists say the evidence is meager, at best, that the post-[[Watergate scandal|Watergate]] campaign finance system has accomplished the broad goals its supporters asserted."<ref name=Kirkpatrick-2010/> Political scientist Kenneth Mayer also agrees that looking at those 1970s reforms, <blockquote>there is no evidence that stricter campaign finance rules reduce corruption or raise positive assessments of government. It seems like such an obvious relationship but it has proven impossible to prove.”<ref>Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. {{cite news |title=Does Corporate Money Lead to Political Corruption? |agency=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/weekinreview/24kirkpatrick.html | first=David D. |last=Kirkpatrick |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 January 2010 | access-date=31 October 2022 }}</ref></blockquote> </textarea><div class="templatesUsed"></div><p id="mw-returnto">Return to <a href="/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States" title="Campaign finance in the United States">Campaign finance in the United States</a>.</p> <noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks catlinks-allhidden" data-mw="interface"></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States&action=edit&section=7&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-rkk8l","wgBackendResponseTime":238,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.063","walltime":"0.083","ppvisitednodes":{"value":418,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":17740,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":6556,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":9,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":0,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":0,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":469,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 54.560 1 -total"," 99.81% 54.455 2 Template:Blocked_text"," 40.96% 22.349 1 Template:Colocationwebhost"," 39.81% 21.719 2 Template:Replace"," 37.83% 20.640 1 Template:Hidden"," 18.32% 9.994 1 Template:Tlx"," 13.43% 7.330 1 Template:Hidden_begin"," 2.67% 1.459 1 Template:Hidden_end"," 2.45% 1.339 1 MediaWiki:Wikimedia-globalblocking-blockedtext-mistake"," 2.21% 1.208 1 MediaWiki:Wikimedia-globalblocking-blockedtext-mistake-email-steward"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.012","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":1043367,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-rkk8l","timestamp":"20241125023310","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> </body> </html>