Campaign Funding

Where does it all come from?

All of you have seen the signs in the yards around your neighborhoods when there is an election. Did you ever take the time to think about where they come from? What about all of the costly ads on television? These are some of the many things that go into running a campaign for elected office. The process of campaigning can often get very expensive and the money they use often comes from questionable sources.

Retrieved from http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance.

 

 When you go to find the statistics for campaign spending most of what you find is only what the candidate has raised, however there is a whole other aspect to campaigns like Political action committees (PACs) and Super PACs. These are committees that are set up to support or setback someone that is running for office. For example the Super PAC Restore Our Future is the primary PAC for the Republican Party and it contributed 16% of Romney’s Campaign funds in 2012.* That same PAC also spent 88.6 million dollars on an independent campaign against Obama.* This is a very large sum of money and it all comes from an organization that does not have to report their earning and spending to the same place as the official presidential campaigns. Instead they report to a less strict organization. 

Retrieved from http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance.

PACs are also not limited in the donations that they receive. The candidates are limited to a $2,500 donation per person however there is no limit on PACs. In the 2012 election Sheldon Adelson and his wife both gave $15 million to the republican Super PAC. That is the price of over 400 new cars all going to an organization that could possibly decide the election. Since PACs have no minimum donation that allows people to give these incredible amounts of money and that gives them power to influence the direction of the campaign. Which can essentially mean that if a powerful enough individual gives enough money to the right organization they could decide the election. This creates a large unbalance in the electoral process.

Retrieved from http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance.

If one person can have such a large influence on the election it diminishes the real purpose of the election that is to give the public a say in who they want to govern their nation. This is the unbalance that is created through the use of PACs. PACs often give an individual or group more power because of their money. The same is true for many other things in the United States like business and some higher level education. The people with more money have a better opportunity than the people with less. Think about when you are going to apply for college do you want your spot given to someone with grades that are lower than yours just because they have money? Also think about when you are old enough to vote and have a say in the government. Would you want someone else’s opinion to matter more than yours?

 *Retrieved from http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance.