Ellen Said:

whatIn the wake of this election, will Washington finally reform Campaign Financing?

We Answered:

There needs to be more third party participation in the process. Unfortunately, for all thier good ideas, they never get heard because they aren't eligible for the financing to run a successful campaign.

Mike Said:

Will the new Republican Campaign Slogan be "In Goldaman Sachs we trust"?

We Answered:

not officially, but there's some truth in that

Carmen Said:

If campaign finance reform is agreed by most to be a good thing then why do Republican groups keep opposing it

We Answered:

Simple - if money is the criteria for having your views get heard, the rich obviously have greater power than the average person, and the Republicans are the party of the rich and the richer.

One voice, one person = one vote - advantage Dems.

One dollar = one vote, advantage Republicans.

The Republicans have been able to push junk issues and junk science and junk advocacy simply through the will and weight of the finances they put into it. If the playing field were leveled and actual facts and parity in expressing viewpoints were allowed, their power would be greatly diminished.

Corey Said:

Republicans Block Election Finance reform Bill... ? Why do the Tea Partiers endorse Republicans?

We Answered:

There is one Tea Party that does not endorse Republicans . TPUSA4GOD check it out in the
yahoo groups. They want to replace all elected politicians in office now in 2010. This is a big year
and our Nation can be brought back to "We the People"..
If you know God and have trusted Jesus Christ you can join.

Ben Said:

Is there a single major issue or change in the U.S. attributable to the Republican party in the 20th century?

We Answered:

The "borrow and spend" Republicans have done one thing....

They lead the fight helping the rich get more tax cuts, and tax breaks, so they'll feel better about themselves. It's called welfare for the rich.

The Liberals are the leaders of social and economic reform.

Anita Said:

Why were Republicans for health care reform during the election but now are 100% against it?

We Answered:

Republicans have short memories and are easily lied to and led like sheep.

Roberta Said:

ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN REFORM?

We Answered:

It's difficult to say definitively what the Democrats and Republicans believe about campaign finance reform since there are some variations in their views. That said, I will describe the main approach and objectives of each party for campaign finance reform.

In general, the major objective of the Democrat perspective is "fairness." The Democrats are concerned that rich candidates (or candidates receiving lots of money from corporations and other sources) have more money to spend on campaign advertising, etc. than candidates without as much money. For this reason, many (if not most) Democrats are in favor of public financing of political campaigns. In other words, the government would give money to the candidates and the candidates will be restricted to spending only that money on advertising and other campaign expenses. They believe that this plan would provide more of an equal playing field for all candidates. One of the problems with this view is that the government would then have to decide which candidates are "viable" so that it is not shelling out government cash to crazy people who want to run for office. This presents a problem since "crazy" is often in the eye of the beholder; and the government bureaucrats making these decisions are naturally more inclined toward candidates that will support the status quo.

Although this is the ultimate goal of most Democrats in terms of campaign finance reform, most Democrats (and some Republicans such as John McCain who sponsored the McCain-Feingold Act) champion campaign finance laws that are highly restrictive in order to make elections "more fair." For example, an individual can only give a limited amount to a single candidate for a particular election. However, I don't think there is any limit to what an individual can give to a party or a Political Action Committee (PAC) who then act on behalf of candidates in their party. The unfortunate result of this regulation is lots of red tape without much more "fairness." Even Barack Obama, who claimed to be a champion of public financing of political campaigns, chose to opt out of government campaign funds because he knew he could raise more money than the government would provide.

On the Republican side, their guiding principle is "freedom." The ultimate goal of the Republicans tends to center around full disclosure without much restriction on giving to political campaigns. The rationale is that people (and corporations) should be able to express themselves as they see fit (which includes, they reason, the giving of money to political candidates). They tend to equate political giving with the right to free speech. A recent Supreme Court ruling determined that corporations should be able to give money to political candidates just as individual citizens should. Republicans agreed with this ruling while Democrats did not.

Another complaint have with campaign finance reform in general is that those who make these laws are either Democrat or Republican. Therefore, the laws they pass are typically biased toward the two big parties and hurt competing "third parties" like the Libertarian Party or the Green Party or any independent candidate. For example, a restriction on individual giving to $1,500 per candidate (I forget what the exact limit is) means that candidates without a huge party backing them will have to spend most of their time asking for money from donors. On the other hand, if there were no such restrictions, an independent candidate would only need the backing of one or a few rich people to compete with the Republicans and Democrats. People like Ross Perot or Meg Whitman (who are billionaires themselves) can afford to finance their own campaigns and run as independents. This is typically why independents are so rare. The Democrats and Republicans have a "monopoly" (or "duopoly") on campaign finance laws and... surpise!... the Democrats and Republicans continue to be favored by these laws.

As I said before, there are probably several variations on this issue in both the Democrat and Republican camps. But this presents the overall framework of the issue and the guiding principles of each side: "Fairness" vs. "Freedom."

Good luck!