Purchasing Political Participation

In the wake of the Watergate affair, Congress attempted to ferret out corruption in political campaigns by restricting financial contributions to candidates. Among other things, the law set limits on the amount of money an individual could contribute to a single campaign and it required reporting of contributions above a certain threshold amount. The Federal Election Commission was created to enforce the statute.

Buckley v. Valero

Money is power. This simple phrase holds great truth when discussing the distribution of political influence in the United States, and probably all countries worldwide. Once elected, politicians often loose sight of their constituents, especially when they win an election with the helps of funds from wealthy campaign contributors. These contributions, more often than not, play a larger role in the decision making process of an elected official, than the constituents interest.

Large campaign contributors, such as the Koch Brothers and our very own former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, contribute extensive amount of money to political campaigns in effort to keep politicians in their pockets. In return of this financial backing, these contributors expect the politicians to work towards advancing the contributors personal agenda.

This case limited the amount of money individuals could contribute to candidates in effort to reduce this consequence and the abuse of political power both from the wealthy contributors and the elected politicians. Through their contributions the wealthy are able to gain much political influence and power without any direct political participation and so the court decided this limit did not infringe on the first amendment rights of the potential contributors. It was also decided that any contribution above a certain amount must be reported.