What is campaign finance reform, and why does it upset conservatives so much?

[MikeGolf]

Money has gotten so important in our politics that we no longer have elections, we have -auctions-. Whichever candidate spends the most money wins about 95% of the time.

This means that politicians have a conflict of interest. They have promised to represent the interests of all the people, but they also have to raise literally thousands of dollars a day if they expect to be re-elected, and fundraising often takes up most of their time. In fact, since they need to be well-funded before the media even will take them seriously, that means that before you even -see- a candidate he's already sold out.

And, since both parties get their money from the same sources, you can't expect their real agenda to be all that much different. They are both really the same party beneath the skin.

It's always the party on the outs that's trying to reform this system. For many years the Republicans had lot more money, so it was the Democrats who wanted campaign finance reform. Now it's the other way around. President Nixon spent $20 million to get elected in 1968. Obama spent $600 million! He outspent McCain by something like 5 to 1.

To make matters worse, the Supreme Court decided that spending money was covered by free speech. So if one candidate is backed by the Oil Industry or the Health Insurance Industry, they can promote him however much they'd like. AND the candidate with the most money is 'coronated' as the winner by the press long before the election, and all the other candidate are treated as also-rans.

What we really need in the US is federal financing of elections. Every serious candidate gets $25 million, and that's all he can spend, and whatever he doesn't spend goes back to the govt. afterwards. It would cost us a little but it would be WELL worth it, to put candidates on equal ground. Also broadcasting stations that use the public airwaves would be required to give candidates some time, maybe 5 min. each on Sunday night, and that's all the TV time they can have except for news and debates and stuff like that. Too many elections are won by storms of very slimy, misleading 30-seconds ads in the last few days of the election, raising issues that opponents don't have time to explain.

In the next few years, as the Republicans get used to their minority status, you're going to see impassioned calls from Republicans for campaign finance reform.