Participation in the Early Financing of Presidential Candidates

Abstract

American philosopher John Rawls once wrote: “In constant pursuit of money to finance campaigns, the political system is simply unable to function” (Rawls 1999, 140). Despite Rawls’s assertion, money is a fundamental reality of US campaigns and elections. Recent decisions by the US Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) (2010) and Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC (2007) to overturn campaign finance laws have reduced the barriers designed to keep a flood of money from entering into elections. They have also upset specific provisions or bans on soft money spending established by earlier laws such as the Tillman Act of 1907,1 the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947,2 and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002.3 As a result, increasing amounts of money are being contributed to and spent on the political process.