In a recent posting on Transterrestrial Musings Rand asked:
Yet there seems to be a growing consensus in the punditocracy that the Enron debacle is going to result somehow in the passage of campaign finance legislation a la McCain-Feingold or Shays-Meehan.Can someone, anyone, explain this to me?
It means the Libertarian Party (and others) are starting to raise enough money to be an annoyance. Vote tallies for Libertarian candidates in a number of election races in November 2000 were actually greater than the margins of victory. Many think we would have done even better if not for the onerous regulatory requirements. Harry Browne was prepared to make a constitutional challenge against the very existance of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) but was unable to do so, partly due to internal party bickering.
The existing regulations prevent small parties from getting a leg up, but they are of little or no consequence to the Demopublicans.
So my take? It’s just another excuse to shore up their monopoly of power. If they can generate good vote-acquring “moral” and “ethical” soundbites while they are at it, it’s an even bigger win for the two faces of the monopoly party.
