Campaign Finance Reform Corrupts | 5 Minute Video
What corrupts politics more: Millionaires and billionaires? Or the rules that intend to limit the influence of wealthy donors? George Will, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post, explains who designed campaign finance reform and why Congress’s solution to the problem may actually be the bigger problem.
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Script:
Campaign finance reform is what it pretends to combat: corruption.
Let me say that again, slightly rephrased: campaign finance reform corrupts the political system it presumes to save from corruption.
Now that I’ve taken the trouble to repeat myself, you may be shaking your head, wondering how I could be so… wrong. Don’t we want to “get money out of politics?” Isn’t campaign finance reform an inherent good? The late Senator Eugene McCarthy, the iconic liberal politician of the Vietnam War era, didn’t think so.
McCarthy, a Democrat who represented Minnesota in the Senate from 1959 to 1971, did something unthinkable in 1968. Because of his opposition to the Vietnam War, he challenged a powerful, incumbent President for his party’s presidential nomination.
His challenge to President Lyndon Johnson was possible — and potent — only because five wealthy liberals who shared McCarthy’s opposition to the Vietnam War gave him substantial sums of money. Stewart Mott’s $210,000 would be $1.4 million in today’s dollars. The five donors’ seed money enabled McCarthy to raise $11 million dollars or $75 million dollars today.
But, because of campaign finance reform, the most a wealthy quintet could give to help an insurgent against an incumbent today would be $13,000 (five times the individual limit of $2,600). McCarthy didn’t win the nomination, but he did compel Johnson not to run for a second term. In doing so, McCarthy changed history. But the Democratic Party establishment wasn’t happy about it. To stop it from happening again, they pushed for government regulation of political speech.
Thus in reaction to Eugene McCarthy’s insurgency, campaign finance reform was born.
Not much has changed since then.
Whatever their stated intentions, campaign finance laws are not written to protect the public from corrupt politicians, they are written to protect incumbents from anyone who might challenge them. So, not only doesn’t campaign finance reform disrupt the status quo; it encases it in cement.
All the laws that ever have regulated campaigns, or ever will regulate them, have had or will have one thing in common: They have been, or will be, written by incumbent legislators. That is why such laws are presumptively disreputable and usually unconstitutional.
But, reformers shout, politicians are bought and sold by big money interests, and we have to stop this.
These reformers argue two propositions.
One is that corruption is so pervasive and so subtle that it is invisible.
They resemble the zealots who say proof of the conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy is the fact that no proof has been found.
Alternatively, reformers argue that corruption is entirely visible everywhere: If politician A votes in a way that pleases contributor B — particularly if contributor B enjoyed “access” to politician A — that shall be designated corruption.
But there is abundant research demonstrating that money almost always moves toward the politician with whom the contributor already agrees. In other words money is rarely given in order to change a politicians’ votes; it is given in order to support politicians who already vote the way donors want them to.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/campaign-finance-reform-corrupts
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TERM LIMITS end corrupt politicians!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reminder to all the right wingers against Citizens United that the case was about the government trying to stop distribution of a movie critical of Hilary Clinton…
Unlimited contributions, No More dark money, 24 hour a day reporting
I like a lot of Prager U’s videos but this one is terrible. His logic is incredibly flawed.
hasn't this jackhole every heard of publicly financed elections
Look at these shit-lords, trying to trick poor people into wringing their hands over the free speech rights of billionaires and corporations.
Why are all you leftist so mean to this guy. I do not agree with him but it is food for thought. All of u leftists need to learn to respect diverse view points. Also, I think the vote of rich people should count more. They run our industries, shape our economies, have way more responsibilities than most plebeians . Why can't they try to influence govt more? With money. They must pay thousands of employees grow businesses. They pay the majority of our taxes. Their vote should matter more than, say, a retired community activist who plays golf all day in palm springs and never held a job in the private sector his whole life. Anyway, please be more tolerant, liberals.🙏 Prager u is a good channel. You are bad people
Holy shit this is the most “head in the sand” thinking I’ve ever seen
https://youtu.be/tUtrg4tmYTw
Why does he keep bringing up freedom of speech? Money is not speech.
Freedom of speech means you are allowed to verbally defend ISIS and other terrorists or support their agenda, albeit, not to the point that you may incite violence. It does not mean you can give them money to help fund their terrorist campaigns.
Freedom of speech means that you can call your congressmen and ask him to support something. It does not mean that you can bribe him to do what you want (which by the way, is exactly whats happening in broad daylight, albeit done in such a way as to maintain plausible deniability).
I hate how conservative media tries to pull these immense feats of mental gymnastics just to keep the status quo they leech the rewards from. I don't hate the conservatives that believe this crap, I'm just disappointed in them.
4:16 Holy shit! Money is not speech. It is power. And in this nation, political power is supposed to be distributed as equally as possible. That is the freedom and the democracy the founders intended for us to have. We need Campaign Finance Reform to remove the parasitic influence billionaires and corporations have on our freedom liberty and democracy.
3:51 That is exactly the problem. That is corruption
Oh look the koch brother funded shills make a video about campaign finance regorm being baf without knowing how such reform would look like
To call this idiotic would be an insult to idiots.
90% of the voting public has no influence over politics found a stanford study. 78% of the public want restrictions and 2 wealthy oil fracking Republicans funded this propiganda.
Could this guy be any more full of shite? I literally think there is not room for one more molecule of shite in this guy's body. What a giant fcker of the USA…..bejesus.
Gee, I don't know why PragerU would be against campaign finance reform. Hrm, this might help answer that:
PragerU has been generously funded by two of the richest men in the United States, billionaire brothers Dan and Farris Wilks, who made their fortunes in fracking.
misdirection and obfuscation
My mom always told me "nothing is ever free, there's always a price to pay"
Wow! The liberal school system taught me that LBJ didn’t run because he just was tired of the presidency. We need school choice in these DEMOCRATIC STATES!!!
Spare our leaders the distraction of the governed… brilliant 👏👏 was looking for a video like this, knew prageru would have one. Was curious after watching a video of biden in 1974 advocating for campaign finance reform 😒 not surprised ..maga
Prager U defending the "globalist" billionaire capitalists literally buying off our politicians and who also funded Prager U's early rise? Imagine my shock!
LOL. So because it kind of was good for one side once we have to ignore all of the horrible things it's done. Stop with the mental gymnastics. pfft.
equal of amount of likes and dislikes
perfectly balanced as all things should be
This makes no sense…
Love this video. Whenever I'm having a hard time throwing up I just put it on, and everything in my digestive system is instantly hurled out of my body. PS can I get course credit for watching this, seeing as you are definitely a real University, and not poorly disguised propaganda funded by fracking billionaires? Cheers, luvvies ♥️♥️🔥🎵🤮♥️🤘
represent.us end corruption
Just remember who funds PragerU
1.9k people actually liked this video! Let that sink in!