RS4:The Secondary Effect of Money in Politics

This article is my take on "A Former Lobbyist Tells All" by Jimmy Williams. This article was on the February of 2012 edition of NPR. click here to listen to audio.

If money was banned in politics where would it all go? what would happen to the political system if there was no money flowing in and out of it. Many say that the legislative process is corrupted because of money. The cost of having no money in politics may be as much of a problem as having no money in politics. The reason for that is because the money used in campaign financing is used to supply voters with information on candidates. Although, we all know that information that is used to gain the attention and interest of voters are usually distorted, but none-the-less, money may not be the problem here.

What needs to be fixed is the structure of the organization. Money cannot be fully removed from the game of politics or in this case campaign financing because, Message = Money. To spread the word, to hire people to get this message across (media outlets), to gain the support of possible allies, is expensive. What we need to do is draw a line on how much and what is being lobbied. A threshold must be supplied, because politicians and lobbyists can lobby anything to further their own agendas in order to put money in their pockets. The financial structure in politics needs to be reorganized.

Politicians have fundraisers, PAC's, and individual donors who raise money for them, but how can we make sure that all of is audited. The thing about the structure of the whole thing is that a person needs money in order to run a campaign or even be considered a candidate. People without financial support to begin with are clear out of the line.  Although, this is said to be regulated and institutionalized, because there is a necessity of money in political races and that the first amendment protects money in politics that does not mean that overt laws are not necessary to prevent as much corruption as possible. Too much money in politics makes it a spectacle, so the rules need to change in order to change the outcome.

How can you trust of system of lawmakers where they run a system that is filled with so many inconsistencies. You can access this video to further explain how a campaign finance work.