The Washington Post has this article about research by Political Scientist Andrew Hall. The article says Hall’s research shows that small donors tend to prefer “extreme” candidates, whereas large donors prefer “moderate” candidates. Public financing amplifies the power of small donors, so the research then goes on to say that public funding contributes toward polarization. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link.
From the article:
Good donors are taxpayers, in a public financing system. Or, in a privately funded system, good donors are ordinary citizens, sometimes called “small donors.” Bad donors are political party organizations, wealthy people, political action committees, and interest groups.
I don’t know if there is empirical evidence to support that premise, but let’s concede for sake of argument that a vast majority of Americans believe that is the case.
What to do, then?
Drastically reduce the amount of money anyone, wealthy or not, can give to a political campaign so that a “wealthy” person can’t donate so much as to distinguish him or herself as a “bad” donor. Then eliminate PACS and Super Pacs, and restrict political parties to funding only party activities and not the campaigns of individuals running for office under the banner of their party, and allow only individuals who can vote for a particular candidate in the general election to donate money to that candidate.
Then let’s see how democracy works.
So you don’t think 17 year olds should be allowed to donate any money to a candidate?
What MORON can see ANY dollar amount in the 1st Amdt ???
See the mere 20 dollars in the 7th Amdt — when even ONE dollar was BIG cash — before the nonstop hyper inflation starting in 1861.
Ah…very clever, Richard.
Do you think 6 year olds ought to be allowed to vote? Own property? Marry?
I live in Maine. Why can’t I vote for a person running to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate? Isn’t that an impingement on my right to free speech?
To answer your question, though, if 17 year old persons are not allowed to vote, then I would prohibit them from making contributions to political candidates.
But I do think they ought to have the right to get laid without being prosecuted. I think they’ll accept the tradeoff as fair, don’t you?