Campaign Finance Reform Essay, Research Paper

Campaign Finance Reform: Soft Money

One of the key issues facing this year?s Presidential Campaign is

campaign finance reform. More specifically, whether or not to ban soft

money. Soft money refers to sums of money donated to political parties by

large corporations, individuals, and unions. The amount of money that

people can donate is unlimited. It is supposed to be used for activities that

benefit the overall political party such as a voter registration drive. The

constitution guarantees the right of free association, people can use their

money to show bonds with a political party. It is essential in a democratic

government. However, the people that make these donations, namely large

corporations, expect something in return for their generosity. They want

strings pulled for them. Voters have no choice but to label the whole political

process corrupt for this reason. Declining voter turnouts have been directly

linked to the increasing amounts of soft money contributed to political

campaigns over the last three elections. Congress has tried many times to

reform campaign finance policies, but has yet to succeed.