It’s time for real reform -- reform that creates a free market in politics.
Here’s how it would work: Lift all the restrictions on political donations. Allow anyone to give any amount to any candidate, party or pressure group at any time. But insist that all donations be immediately reported on the Internet. Instead of having a Federal Elections Commission trying to micromanage hundreds of campaigns, we’d have millions of bloggers and reporters keeping an eye on who was donating to whom.
In his book “The Cash Nexus,” economic historian Niall Ferguson notes, “The conventional argument is that such a free market in politics would benefit the rich and exclude the poor from political influence.” But as he points out, all voters are “shareholders” in the federal government. A party that serves the overwhelming majority is still going to win more votes than a party that supports the narrow interests of rich donors.
Ferguson warns that political parties are essential in a democracy, yet, “are being denied the funding they need by rules aimed to curb private influence, and at the same time forced into an unhealthy dependence on the state.” A free market would change that equation.
Even in this year of supposed political unrest, when polls show steadily increasing discontent with the ruling party, political analysts say no more than 30 or so of the 435 House seats are really at risk of changing hands.
Our political system is becoming a closed market where turnover is impossible. The French have shown how well that works. Let’s “reform” campaigns by creating a competitive open market, and let the best ideas win out.