An editorial in The New York Times on Sunday and an outstanding article published Aug. 10 have put back onto the national agenda the single most important issue in America today – the one that is at the root of all evil.
The system of campaign finance in the U.S. is nothing short of legalized bribery. It distorts political outcomes to favor the rich while screwing the poor.
We blogged about it in detail today in “THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL: campaign cash”
The headline on the second editorial in Sunday’s editions of The New York Times is “The Cash Cow Committee”
If I was the headline writer, I would have called it: “The root of all evil.”
“The sleazy flow of cash cries out for a public financing system for Congressional elections …” says the editorial.
In his 1420-word thoroughly researched expose For Freshmen in the House, Seats of Plenty Reporter Eric Lipton recounts the way the system works for the 61 members of the most powerful committee in the House, and one egregious flaunter in particular, Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky.
In its editorial, The Times calls, as an interim measure, for support for the Empowering Citizens Act introduced just a year ago by two Democrats, David Price of North Carolina and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
This bill, now with eight sponsors, is supported by many organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
But the evidence is conclusive that a piecemeal approach to campaign finance reform is never going to gain traction.
While all these efforts are laudable, there is ultimately only one solution.
Public financing of elections: it works well in many other democracies, and it would be the beginning of the end for so many of the intractable issues that divide our nation and make the political system in Washington and elsewhere so incapable of solving them.