Campaign Finance

September 28th, 2018.

A politician, a non-profit, a company, and an individual should all be able to accumulate wealth and should never be coerced by the government to disclose the identities of their coffers. In regards to my opinion on campaign finance laws I believe that campaigns, as well as individuals, should always be allowed to raise however much money they want, and be able to do so freely and privately. As we’ve seen in recent campaign losses, unchecked amounts of money were needlessly squandered on failing bids (Jeb Bush, Maura Sullivan), while smaller, thriftier campaigns (Trump, Edwards) have succeeded. The notion of forcing a politician or a campaign to disclose the source of their donations or fundraising is an unfair alienation within our own free market that must be stopped. I’m sure that someone along the way thought it might be a clever tactic to derail an opponent by putting such an intrusive policy in place. All that these disclosures have really done is nothing more than fuel suspicion and erode trust. To demand, “Show me your books!” merely because political campaigns and politicians are inherently untrustworthy is philosophically wrong. Though politicians certainly do terrible things, they too don’t deserve to have their belongings and private lives ransacked all in the name of transparency. Transparency builds trust, it doesn’t prove it. Do away with all campaign finance laws I say.