Another Bad Campaign Finance Idea
Bizzyblog says it's time to ban out-of-district donations to candidates for Congress.
While it sounds nice as a concept, it is detached from reality. At best it is yet another way to protect incumbents. At worst, it is another assault on the freedom of association.
The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging . . . the right of the people peaceably to assemble."
It seems to me clear that the people have the right to assemble support for a candidate they like, whether they live in the district or not. Votes taken in Congress affect everyone, not just those in the district.
Someone who believes in limited government should not be advocating laws to limit the people's right and ability to change the government, which is exactly what this would do.
The reality is that such an idea would give a heavy advantage to establishment candidates, and corrupt politicians. Someone from Ohio, of all places, ought to know about that. You have a long history of overly powerful or corrupt politicians. So why do you want to give the machine politicians even more ability to fend off challenge?
The reality is that people who hate the machine are intimidated by the machine. They won't contribute against it for fear of the consequences. That makes machine politics even harder to dislodge. Outside-the-district donors can help reformers win and smash the corrupt machine.
It is not enough to just allow the outsiders to speak. Better to give the candidate, who knows best the corruption and the lay of the land, the ability to speak by letting him raise money from the outsiders who can't be intimidated by the local corrupt pols.
The reality is that such a restriction will give outsiders even more control about how campaigns are run to outsiders. The candidates will be starved for funds. Who has money? The political parties!
Today when I watch general election races develop, it is stunning to see the financial impact of the parties. The candidates are often bystanders in the last month.
The reality is that this change will make candidate's even weaker compared to the parties. They will lose almost all control of the race and the message and the national parties will usually run the show, while never talking to the candidate, which isn't allowed, at least under current rules.
