Political Reform

I keep forgetting that Daniel Jonah Goldhagen has for some reason been allowed to re-invent himself as a fake expert on the national security issues of the contemporary Middle East. Elsewhere in that issue of Democracy, however, you'll find Mark Schmitt's smart take on the failures of the 1990s-vintage campaign finance reform movement and charting a course for more fruitful action in the future.

I think what I agree with most is the section in page three which points out the limits of "corruption and the appearance of corruption" as the rationale for reform. Those are important values, of course. But one can't talk seriously about election rules without also considering values like trying to preserve some measure of political equality. And perhaps most important of all, trying to ensure that competitive elections even happen in the first place. The best cure for corruption (or, indeed, the appearance of corruption) is almost certainly for elected officials to regularly face vigorous challengers. That means the emphasis has to less be on "getting the money out of politics" than on getting at least some political money into the hands of ordinary people.