Campaign Finance Reform

            
             "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -- First Amendment, US Constitution.
             The proposed twenty-eighth amendment is that of campaign finance reform. It was proposed by senator John McCain, a republican from Arizona. Basically, his bill would do the following: Ban all soft money contributions to parties from corporations, unions, and individuals; ban corporate and union-sponsored "issue ads" during the final 60 days of a campaign; and increase the total amount of regulated so-called "hard money" that individuals can give to candidates and to parties. .
             This is an incredibly controversial issue not only because it affects those involved in the game of politics, but because it affects us, the people from expressing our rights granted to us by the first amendment. Some however, believe this reform can actually benefit us because it restricts excessive influence of a targeted group. In this composition, I will be going over both views, as well as my own stance on this contentious topic.
             Since the late 1860's congress has been trying to regulate the financing of political campaigns in this country. In 1867 the Naval Appropriations Bill, and in 1979 the FECA amendments. However, these attempts have been for the most part met with failure, undermined with loopholes, the most recent being "soft money" donations. Simply put, soft money is money which, by definition and law, is not supposed to be part of our federal campaign finance system. It is precisely the kind of money which federal law and policy have sought to exclude from national campaigns. This is the reason for why which the supporters of this proposal back it up. It's their main argument. .
             The more liberal reformist view argues that large contributions buy "undue access to politicians for individuals, corporations, and special interest groups".