Campaign Finance Reform NOW!

Change Our Contemptible and Easily Corruptible System

By Doug Smith

May 27, 2026

It’s not unusual for candidates in primaries or general elections to throw around accusations about who is the purest when it comes to accepting outside campaign contributions. 

This is not a valid issue, in my opinion.  Getting large campaign donations, as long as they’re legal, is the way the system was set up to work.  I don’t like it, and neither should you, but it’s all we have.  If any candidate turns up their nose at big donations, it’s like going into a knife fight with one arm tied behind your back. 

But my reason for writing this is to point out the insanity of this electoral funding system!  Why do we continue to allow private, corporate, and personal donations to be the basis of all campaigns?  It doesn’t have to be this way. 

Large amounts of money are there for the seeking by candidates of both parties.  Many find billionaire backers, or corporate donors, or union funds, or other large pots of money from a variety of political action committees.   When a candidate accepts money from any of these sources, they necessarily accept the strings that come along with that.  That’s why it’s so hard for Congress to come to any agreements these days, they all answer to conflicting backers.  They represent the sources of their campaign funding more than their constituents.

The only way out of this contemptible and easily corruptible mess is to use federal and state treasuries as the main source of campaign contributions.  Under this plan, every candidate for every office would receive the same amount for the running of their campaigns, from the federal government for U.S. Senate and Congressional races, and from the state treasury for all statewide races.  Contested primaries would need to be included. 

Your first question might be, “How can we afford to do that?”  Well, we’re already paying for all the cozy regulations and tax breaks that big businesses and billionaires seek, and those add up to far more than even the most expensive campaigns.  The country and the state might actually save money on the exchange. 

What if citizens wanted to make personal contributions to the candidates of their choice?  Let individuals continue to give, with strict (and low) limits on how much anyone can contribute, so that no one can make a donation so large that it diverts the attention of the elected official from their duty to all their constituents, in favor of some vested interest.  All other entities, such as corporations, political action committees, and other interest groups, would be forbidden to make contributions.

What would that accomplish?  For one thing, it would make elections about the actual needs of the citizens, and about the positions and the character of the candidates, rather than about how many billionaire backers they are able to accumulate.  Another benefit is that all elected officials could concentrate on their duties, rather than spending the lion’s share of their time on raising money for the next election cycle. 

We can’t really get healthcare legislation passed anymore because everyone in Washington is getting money from one or more of the players in the healthcare industry.  We can’t get meaningful gun safety legislation passed when so many politicians are in the pocket of the firearms makers and the NRA.  We can’t reform Social Security because there are too many politicians with links to financial services companies which would love to get their hands on all that money.  We can’t reform countless parts of our complicated country because everyone involved in making these decisions is beholden to too many diverse sources of campaign funding.  If every decision maker was freed from their golden handcuffs to donors, we might actually be able to pass laws that benefit the entire nation, instead of benefiting only the few at the top.

Campaign finance reform must happen before anything of any consequence can be passed that might truly make the lives of the average person better.  Under our current system, unless you can buy a voice in Congress, you are out of luck.  Sadly, reform is not likely to happen, because those who benefit from the current system are still in charge.  It would take a massive groundswell just to even give this idea a hearing, let alone pass it.  It could be done, but do enough people care? 

So who do you vote for, when it’s difficult to find any distinction between two worthy candidates on the same side of so many issues? Make whatever choice seems right to you, and after the primary, come together to push the winner to victory in November. In all elections, both in primaries and in general elections, vote for candidates who make a firm pledge to support this kind of radical change to the way we fund our electoral campaigns in the future. And spread the word!  Together, we can choose the system we want!

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