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Political Spending: Civic Engagement is Not a Threat to Democracy
January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

The First Amendment guarantees every American freedom of speech. That freedom includes the right to spend money on speech. Without money, a political group cannot buy ads, print fliers, organize protests, or hire staff. Short of shouting one’s opinions on a street corner, it takes money to spread a message. Recognizing this relationship, the Supreme Court has long prohibited the…

Corporate PAC Campaign Contributions in Perspective
April 10, 2000   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

Campaign contributions from political action committees (PACs) are often portrayed in the media as the functional equivalent of bribes. In particular, corporate PAC contributions are ...

If It’s Not Broken . . . or Is It?
January 1, 2000   •  By IFS staff   •  ,

This selection was excerpted from Inside Campaign Finance: Myths and Realities (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992). In this article, Frank J. Sorauf, a distinguished political ...

Do Campaign Donations Alter How a Politician Votes? Or, Do Donors Support Candidtes Who Value the Same Things that they Do?
October 1, 1997   •  By IFS staff   •  , , ,

Do special interest campaign contributions significantly alter how politicians vote on legislative issues? Can these political action committee (PAC) contributions ‘‘buy’’ votes within the Congress? Despite ...

Political Money: The New Prohibition
January 1, 1997   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

Our system of campaign financing fosters subterfuge and corruption, favors wealthy candidates over those not so blessed, puts candidates on a perpetual fund-raising treadmill, and is ...

Campaign Finance Regulation: Faulty Assumptions and Undemocratic Consequences
September 13, 1995   •  By Brad Smith   •  , ,

Efforts to limit political contributions and spending are extremely popular. Yet there is no serious evidence that campaign finance regulation has achieved or will achieve ...

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