There was an interesting new post on the subject written by money politics expert Ian Vandewalker and published at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law. Take a look at this excerpt:
In a recent blog post, law professor and election law expert Richard Pildes raised a concern about the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1), the major democracy reform package moving through Congress. He notes that the campaign finance reform provisions would provide matching funds to multiply the value of small donations to candidates at a rate of six-to-one.
This program, which also dramatically lowers contribution limits for candidates who participate, would amplify the voices of regular people and allow more diverse candidates to run competitive campaigns without having to raise large amounts of money from special interests. Recent elections have shown how much it is needed — even as we’ve seen massive increases in the number of small donors in 2018 and 2020, the amount of money coming from big donors was still far greater.
Pildes’s issue, however, is “whether small donors tend to fuel the ideological extremes of the parties.” It’s an understandable question, and the evidence is that it does not.
The article is much suggested reading by the Democracy Chronicles staff, so take a look. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on American Democracy or our articles on Money Politics and Worldwide Corruption.
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