No political issue strikes more at the heart of democracy than campaign finance reform.

But now, after years of struggle, finance reform may finally gain traction.

The quicker the United States addresses campaign finance reform and makes substantive changes to the political campaigns that are funded, the better off our democracy will be.

In late August, members of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Commission to Investigate Public Corruption looked into legislators, the campaign funding they received and how this funding directly influences the legislation they seek to pass.

Public campaign financing legislation has been passed for statewide and legislative races in Connecticut, Maine and Arizona. The program has been successful and positively received in these states.

Restrictions on the size of individual donations were bypassed in 1979 when the Federal Election Commission ruled that unrestricted donations to state parties were permissible. Since then, the influence of big donors has only increased with the rise of Political Action Committees, or groups formed by business, labor or other special-interest groups that financially contribute to political campaigns.
No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall on, most would agree that the influence of large private donors during elections has gotten out of hand in Washington.

For example, Barack Obama promised change and an end to the influence of lobbying in Washington in his 2008 election campaign. But looking back, it’s hard to believe that so many millenials actually bought into the message.

Obama’s record of broken promises is pretty hard to defend, and reducing the influence of lobbying in Washington stands at or near the top of that list.

A study released by lobbying scholar Conor McGrath in the July issue of the Journal of Public Affairs revealed that Obama has hired more than 100 lobbyists in his administration.

Campaign finance reform is a cause that true conservatives should rally around. As long as huge sums of money are spent on elections, our economy is more likely to resemble something more akin to corporatism than capitalism and laissez-faire economics.

Redistributive policies in the form of tariffs and subsidies allow the government to play favorites based on which industries of the economy are donating the most. For example, 10 members of the Senate received at least $45,000 in campaign contributions from sugar cane and sugar beets producers between 2007 and 2012.

This is big government at its very worst.

Once elected, the typical member of Congress spends an alarming amount of his or her working hours on the phone seeking further donations for future elections. Instead of going to Washington to solve problems, today we are witnessing career politicians whose primary focus is always seeking re-election.

And politicians are far more responsive to the institutions and corporations that financially support their elections than they are to their constituents, which they’ve been elected to represent.

Political candidates feel a sense of obligation to their big donors because they know that without them, their chances of election are slim.

Change can occur, though.

One organization that’s making a real difference advocating for campaign finance reform is Democracy Matters, which holds a chapter at Syracuse University. The group is a nonpartisan, nonprofit student-run organization that advocates for the passage of public campaign financing.

Their objective is to limit the influence of large donors which enables legislators to better represent their constituents, relieve the burden for politicians to extensively fundraise and encourage greater socioeconomic diversity in politics.

At SU, the program is currently being led by President Rachel Potter, a junior political science major. Potter’s goals for the organization include education for students on the issue, voter registration on campus and organize presentations by relevant politicians and public figures.

All SU and State University of New York Environmental Science and Forestry students are welcome to join.

Sadly, campaign finance reform has a failed history in the United States. The more effective programs such as Democracy Matters are in spreading awareness though, the closer we will be to taking the big donor money out of political campaigns.

Ethan Demers is a senior political science and history major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on September 17, 2013 at 1:32 am