The Collapse of the Campaign Finance System

Small Change: Money, Political Parties, and Campaign Finance Reform Sen. Barack Obama's groundbreaking decision to reject public financing was widely criticized by good government groups and reform-minded lawmakers in both parties. However, a new book by Ray La Raja, Small Change: Money, Political Parties, and Campaign Finance Reform, predicted this would be a direct result of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law -- the same law supported by most of those now blasting Obama's decision.

La Raja notes that by cutting off soft money donations, McCain-Feingold dramatically weakened political parties and created a more decentralized and chaotic political system with candidates, parties and interest groups operating independently of each other. The unintended consequences of the law has been greater polarization of the political parties, the rise of independent 527 groups and candidates like Obama that seek their own sources of funding.

La Raja's brief review of reform laws over the past several decades is also very enlightening. He shows how nearly every reform effort called for restricting donations for the main purpose of giving an advantage to a specific party or faction within a party. Rarely was the intent improving our democratic system.

Ultimately, La Raja favors a series of reforms that strengthen the political parties, including higher contribution limits to the national parties and allowing greater party coordinated spending. These proposals acknowledge that past reforms efforts to limit campaign money were doomed to fail and that no one should be surprised of the campaign finance system that resulted.

It's an interesting book, very timely and highly recommended.


June 25, 2008


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