Talk:Campaign finance reform

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I am adding a paragraph or two about the two Yale Law School professors Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres proposal to make campaign contributions anonymous through the FEC as reported in Salon and detailed in their book "Voting with Dollars". DetonatedManiac 21:41, 11 March 2007 (UTC)DetonatedManiac

Added the 3 paragraphs at the bottom, This is my first Wikipedia addition, please let me know if I made any errors. Also I was not sure what I should add to references. What I wrote was based primarily on the Salon article How to fix campaign financing forever for $50[1] which I referenced in my 2nd paragraph in regards to the 2004 voting figures. I didn't want to mess with the references for the whole entry as it seemed like a bit of code and I am not yet sure of Wikipedia conventions. Thanks DetonatedManiac 21:41, 11 March 2007 (UTC)DetonatedManiac

I made some more changes to the 3 paragraphs I added earlier. In trying to clarify I ended up restructuring quite a bit and added a few more of Ackerman and Ayers arguments. I might suggest that someone add some rebuttal to their claims and their plan, as I admit I am a bit biased, but I tried to stay neutral. Some things to look into: the radical nature of their proposal, the cost (if 50 x 120 million is $6 billion dollars, thats quite a bit coming from taxes, plus the overhauls needed at the FEC) and the possible infringements of freedom of speech if contributions are made anonymously.DetonatedManiac 00:30, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

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[edit] American Term?

The article states that "Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns."

Campaign finance reform has occurred and is occurring elsewhere in the world. For example in Canada it has made a huge difference in campaigning. Perhaps the title should be changed, or the article expanded to discuss the issue of campaign finance reform in general.

--70.53.50.112 19:07, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This article is still biased...

I suppose Wikipedia tries to be unbiased but this article has failed. There are several references in the article to the campaign finance reform "scheme". Also, the article cites a report by the GAO as non-partisan. Since when has any arm of the government besides the Supreme Court (and that is disputable) ever actually been non-partisan under any administration? You can't be non-partisan, no matter what the agency claims, as long as you are working for the party in power. They are your bosses. Let's get real. Also, I looked over the GAO's report, which Wikipedia says has nothing positive to say about the campaign finance reform study. No, it doesn't. However, it doesn't have anything negative to say, either. The study, for all it's length and verbage basically says that the study's findings are inconclusive. In addition, I have questions about the non-partisan findings of a study in which Mr. Trent Lott, a friend of President Bush's and the author, an official from Homeland Security -- of all places -- are doing the work. This study appears to be just more political spin by the powers in Washington.

K.K. McAllister —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.253.49.167 (talk) 00:49, August 22, 2007 (UTC)