Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Keywords
campaign finance, egalitarianism, political theory, Rawls, deliberative democracy, politics
Abstract
Recent advocacy for campaign finance reform has been based on an ideal of the democratic process which is unrealistic and unhelpful. Scholars should instead return to its egalitarian roots. This article examines how deliberative democratic theory became the main justification for campaign finance reform. It exposes the shortcomings of this deliberativist detour and instead models campaign spending as an effort to commodify issue-salience. Given this dominant function of money in politics, a more effective paradigm for reform is equalizing influence. Advocates of campaign regulation should return to the original principles of reformers; not an idealized vision of the democratic process, but pragmatic concerns about moneyed interests acquiring too much influence over the nation's politics.
Publication Citation
2008 University of Illinois Law Review 599.
Disciplines
Finance | Political Science | Political Theory | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Digital Commons Citation
2008 University of Illinois Law Review 599.
Included in
Finance Commons, Political Theory Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons