Public Campaign Financing: Why?

People talk about wanting to get big money, aka special interests, out of our government, but few seem to have a clear understanding of the how’s and why’s of accomplishing it. Ironically, the solution that is most obvious is also very unpopular – public campaign financing.

Public campaign financing is an idea that most people dismiss out of hand as I did for a long time. Then I read a little book written by Jeff Golden titled, As If We Were Grownups: A Collection of “Suicidal� Political Speeches That Aren’t.

Golden believes that people are basically mature enough and good enough that if they are given all the facts, they will choose the common good over immediate self-interest. Based on that belief, Golden presents a series of speeches dealing with controversial issues. In adult to adult talk, he explains how the common good will be served by choosing a certain solution to a problem. The explanation makes it clear that a solution that may seem to go against your self-interest will, in the long run, serve you well.

One of the speeches deals with public campaign financing, a much maligned idea. Objections usually include negativity about supporting a candidate with opposing views, having other priorities for spending tax dollars, and just plain distain for politicians in general.

What such attitudes fail to consider is that our ability to have honest government that works for the good of the people hinges on how we pay for the election of that government. Deny it as they may, legislators are influenced by the special interests who pay to elect and re-elect them. If we are not willing to find a way to elect officials so they are beholden only to the people then we cannot expect them to work for our best interests.

Somewhere along the line our thinking about election campaigns got twisted resulting in the mistaken idea that these campaigns belong to the candidates. From that standpoint, public financing looks like we are being asked to contribute to their campaigns. However, as Golden says, it is important for us to understand:

“…these campaigns are not for the candidates but for us … (elections) are the final step in the process of selecting people to represent us, to make decisions for us…�

In order to make informed selections, we need to know about all of our choices – all of the candidates with the potential to represent us well. As things stand now, we only hear about the candidates supported by the special interests funding their campaigns.

With public financing, candidates with good qualifications, new and innovative ideas, and motivations that are honest and untainted by special interests would have the opportunity to be seen and heard. It would give us alternatives and reduce, if not eliminate, the oft expressed desire to mark “none of the above� on our ballots. To quote Golden, “That’s what public financing could do, not for them but for us.�