The Legal Regulation of Campaign Financing in American Federal Elections

Abstract

1988 is a presidential election year in the United States. As in previous presidential and congressional campaigns, millions of dollars will be spent by candidates seeking elected office. Campaign financing in the United States, as in other western democracies, raises a question which strikes at the moral basis of the system of government. Thus, how do we secure and guarantee political equality in a society of deep-rooted economic inequality? It may well be that de Tocqueville was right when he wrote that “Democratic institutions awaken and foster a passion for equality which they can never entirely satisfy.” Yet the integrity of these institutions demands that control of economic resources does not permit domination of the political process on the simple expedient of unrestrained liberty for all in the political arena. If political equality is to mean anything in practice, the political machine must not be the preserve of the few who are ready, willing, and able to exploit private or personal economic resources. The purpose of this paper is to consider how this problem has been addressed in the United States. The paper traces the origins of the modern legislation and examines the tension between the legislative and the judicial branches of government. A particularly disturbing tendency has been the unwillingness on the part of the courts to sustain the legislation in the face of constitutional challenge, thereby facilitating the continued domination of the political process by moneyed interests. Given the growing movement for a Bill of Rights in Britain, these developments may yet be of some practical significance in this country.