campaign reform

Read the following articles and be prepared to write your opinion. Based on these articles and your readings for the week, analyze the future of political fundraising in the U.S. Is there a need for further campaign finance reform? If so, what steps should be taken? Is strengthening the FEC the answer? Some argue that PAC contributions, which have been limited to $5,000 for many years, should be indexed to inflation. Others believe the growth of SuperPACs and IEs have corrupted the system, while others believe campaign spending is Free Speech (such as the Supreme Court). Can political parties still compete with outside spending groups?

• Petition: Join Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben: Get Big Money Out of Politics!
• Politico’s “Gay donor: Gay rights not ‘inevitable'”
• The New York Times’ “Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending”
• The New York Post’s “The Koch brothers strike back”
• The Washington Times’ “George Soros funds Ferguson protests, hopes to spur civil action”

Answer Preview

The Supreme Court acknowledges that enabling unlimited contribution can lead to corruption in the election thus the implementations of the limits to the contributors who are involved in the election. Each of the states has different limits of the individuals and the political parties.  These rules apply are applied differently to the non-party or outsider such as the PACs thus allowing them to contribute directly to individuals up…

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