The following is an essay I wrote in response to a scholarship question about whether the increasing amount of spending during campaigns is good or bad for democracy. It is also my first blog entry of any sort, so if you deign to post a response please be kind.
Campaigning for government office is expensive. It takes thousands of dollars to run for mayor small town, and astronomical figures to campaign for higher offices. The news lately is flooded with reports concerning the millions of dollars spent, or raised, or needed by the candidates for the Republican and Democratic Party presidential nominations. That’s right- nominations. After they’re chosen the real fundraising, and then spending begins. This spending is indisputably necessary for campaigning, but its importance is bad for democracy, the purpose of which is to give everyone an equal chance to run for public office and to vote in elections.
One of the most obvious reasons why the democratic process suffers from the increase spending is that the main sources for campaign donations are special interest groups. Special interests fund candidates who support their political interests, whether intentionally or by coincidence. This results in more funding going to candidates who represent the interests the special interests and not necessarily of the people. The same is true of wealthier individuals, who have more money to donate to campaigns than others. In this respect, the rich have a larger voice than the poor. Both of these cases, of interest groups having more power than the people, and of richer people having more power than poor people, are bad for democracy.
The problem of the extent of spending in a campaign involves not only the contributors to the campaign, but the candidates themselves. Candidates are allowed to use their own money to fund their campaigns, and do. Hilary Clinton and Mitt Romney, for example have used millions of dollars of their own during the current nominations race. This is bad for democracy in that the rich are better prepared and able to fund a campaign. This is certainly not the case in every election, but this bias in the system is non-the-less present.
Campaign spending is accelerating, and is on a course to continue doing so. While it’s perhaps not the worst problem with politics, it does deserve attention and consideration. This is a problem for the United States’ democratic process- one that should be addressed.
