Congress Has not Totally Addressed Election Campaign Reform

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Another campaign upon us , sure to be filled with million dollar television campaigns and million dollar print ads , of the above providing us with an accurate picture of what the politician will do for us once elected . There is trouble within the American political system one only avoided if you are living a life devoid of the mass media Long before the campaign begins , the request for donations runs rampant

br The perception and most likely the reality , he with the most dollars wins . This isn 't a new issue . At the heart of the issue is the ability of big business and the affluent to buy their government . We have once again been reminded of this issue as the unveiling occurs of recent scandals of corporations attempting and perhaps succeeding in buying the billion dollar contracts to rebuild Iraq

Elizabeth Drew , in Corruption in American Politics : What Went Wrong and Why , discusses the events that followed the post-Watergate campaign finance reforms of 1974 and the succeeding 25 years as a systematic effort to undo their good intentions . Drew describes the oppressive money-grubbing required of all politicians and the culture of influence among the lobbyists and others whose business it is to buy government Drew outlines the importance of "soft money " the large contributions individuals , corporations , labor unions , and other organizations are allowed to make to political parties , circumventing the legal limits on giving to individual campaigns . She describes the rise in "independent expenditures " the unrestricted sums spent by outside groups on "voter education " ads in fact designed to benefit one candidate over another

Drew frustrated with the hearings into 1996 campaign finance conducted by Sen . Fred Thompson and the failure of the 106th Congress to enact campaign finance reform despite majority support in both chambers of Congress , highlighting special interests uniting to defeat the public interest . Drew is not new to Washington , she knows the ins and outs and perhaps that is what frightens her most . Worried that coalition members will hijack a party and therefore the political process , forcing it in a direction opposed by a more general public interest . She identified this phenomenon as the cause President Clinton 's impeachment : The "Christian right " demanded that Clinton be impeached and consequently the Republicans impeached Clinton . Individual members who were not necessarily Clinton-haters acted out of fear that if they voted against impeachment , they might face disagreeable and expensive primary challenges from the right . Drew was not simply defending Clinton , or by extension the democratic party

Clinton 's failure to lead on campaign finance reform was of a

piece with his general failure to lead . And his presidency

contributed to the decline of the Office of the President . His wasn 't

the first presidency to do so , but Clinton 's own contribution was

substantial and of historical importance . His flawed presidency was

another disappointment and added to the cumulative negative

impact...