It's Even Worse Than It Looks: a Conversation with Tom Mann And

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

It's Even Worse Than It Looks: a Conversation with Tom Mann And 1/9/2021 It's Even Worse than It Looks: A Conversation with Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein | Humphrey School of Public Affairs Humphrey School of Public Affairs It's Even Worse than It Looks: A Conversation with Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein In It''s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutionall System Colllided With the New Politics of Extremism,, Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein argue that there are two overriding probllems that have lled Congress – and the United States – to the brink of institutionall collllapse.. The first is the serious mismatch between our polliticall parties,, which have become as vehementlly adversariall as parlliamentary parties,, and a governing system that,, unllike a parlliamentary democracy,, makes it extremelly difficullt for majorities to act.. Second,, while both parties participate in triball warfare,, both sides are not equalllly cullpablle.. The polliticall system faces what the authors callll "asymmetric pollarization,," with the Republlican Party impllacablly refusing to allllow anything that might hellp the Democrats polliticalllly,, no matter the cost.. With dysfunction rooted in llong-term polliticall trends,, a coarsened polliticall cullture and a new partisan media,, the authors concllude that there is no "silver bullllet" reform that can sollve everything.. But they offer a panoplly of usefull ideas and reforms,, endorsing some sollutions,, llike greater publlic participation and institutionall restructuring of the House and Senate,, while debunking others,, llike independent or third-party candidates.. Above allll,, they callll on the media as wellll as the publlic at llarge to focus on the true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the bums out every ellection cyclle.. Until voters llearn to act strategicalllly to reward probllem sollving and punish obstruction,, American democracy willl remain in serious danger.. THOMAS MANN Senior Fellllow,, Governance Studies,, Brookings Institution A noted congressionall schollar,, Tom Mann writes and speaks widelly on American pollitics and pollicymaking,, inclluding campaigns,, ellections,, campaign finance reform and the effectiveness of Congress.. His most recent book,, co-authored with Norman Ornstein,, is It''s Even Worse https://hhh-d7.prd.umn.edu/event/its-even-worse-it-looks-conversation-tom-mann-and-norm-ornstein 1/3 1/9/2021 It's Even Worse than It Looks: A Conversation with Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein | Humphrey School of Public Affairs Than It Looks: How the American Constitutionall System Collllided With the New Pollitics of Extremism.. NORMAN ORNSTEIN Resident Schollar,, American Enterprise Institute Norman Ornstein is a llong-time observer of Congress and pollitics.. He writes a weeklly collumn for Rollll Callll calllled "Congress Inside Out" and is an ellection eve anallyst for CBS News.. He served as codirector of the AEI-Brookings Ellection Reform Project and participates in AEI''s Ellection Watch series.. He allso served as a senior counsellor to the Continuity of Government Commission.. Mr.. Ornstein lled a working group of schollars and practitioners that hellped shape the llaw,, known as McCain-Feingolld,, that reformed the campaign financing system.. He was ellected as a fellllow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.. His many books incllude The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (AEI Press,, 2000); The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track,, with Thomas E.. Mann (Oxford University Press,, 2006,, named by the Washington Post one of the best books of 2006 and calllled by the Economist "a cllassic"); and,, most recentlly,, the New York Times bestsellller,, It''s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutionall System Collllided With the New Pollitics of Extremism,, allso with Tom Mann,, publlished in May by Basic Books.. Parkiing + Diirections (/contact/parking.html)(/contact/parking.html) Registration This presentation is free and open to the publlic.. Pllease RSVP at: http:://mannornstein.eventbriite.com/ (http://mannornstein.eventbrite.com/)(http://mannornstein.eventbrite.com/) More Information For more information and disability accommodations,, pllease callll (612) 625-5340 or e-mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])(mailto:[email protected]).. https://hhh-d7.prd.umn.edu/event/its-even-worse-it-looks-conversation-tom-mann-and-norm-ornstein 2/3 1/9/2021 It's Even Worse than It Looks: A Conversation with Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein | Humphrey School of Public Affairs June 25,, 2012 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM Cowlles Auditorium,, Humphrey Schooll of Publlic Affairs © 2021 Regentts off tthe Uniiversiitty off Miinnesotta.. Allll riightts reserved. The Uniiversiitty off Miinnesotta iis an equall opporttuniitty educattor and employer.. Priivacy Sttattementt https://hhh-d7.prd.umn.edu/event/its-even-worse-it-looks-conversation-tom-mann-and-norm-ornstein 3/3.
Recommended publications
  • Partisan Gerrymandering and the Construction of American Democracy
    0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE Partisan Gerrymandering and the Construction of American Democracy In Partisan Gerrymandering and the Construction of American Democracy, Erik J. Engstrom offers an important, historically grounded perspective on the stakes of congressional redistricting by evaluating the impact of gerrymandering on elections and on party control of the U.S. national government from 1789 through the reapportionment revolution of the 1960s. In this era before the courts supervised redistricting, state parties enjoyed wide discretion with regard to the timing and structure of their districting choices. Although Congress occasionally added language to federal- apportionment acts requiring equally populous districts, there is little evidence this legislation was enforced. Essentially, states could redistrict largely whenever and however they wanted, and so, not surpris- ingly, political considerations dominated the process. Engstrom employs the abundant cross- sectional and temporal varia- tion in redistricting plans and their electoral results from all the states— throughout U.S. history— in order to investigate the causes and con- sequences of partisan redistricting. His analysis
    [Show full text]
  • How America Went Haywire
    Have Smartphones Why Women Bully Destroyed a Each Other at Work Generation? p. 58 BY OLGA KHAZAN Conspiracy Theories. Fake News. Magical Thinking. How America Went Haywire By Kurt Andersen The Rise of the Violent Left Jane Austen Is Everything The Whitest Music Ever John le Carré Goes SEPTEMBER 2017 Back Into the Cold THEATLANTIC.COM 0917_Cover [Print].indd 1 7/19/2017 1:57:09 PM TerTeTere msm appppply.ly Viistsits ameierier cancaanexpexpresre scs.cs.s com/om busbubusinesspsplatl inuummt to learnmn moreorer . Hogarth &Ogilvy Hogarth 212.237.7000 CODE: FILE: DESCRIPTION: 29A-008875-25C-PBC-17-238F.indd PBC-17-238F TAKE A BREAK BEFORE TAKING ONTHEWORLD ABREAKBEFORETAKING TAKE PUB/POST: The Atlantic -9/17issue(Due TheAtlantic SAP #: #: WORKORDER PRODUCTION: AP.AP PBC.17020.K.011 AP.AP al_stacked_l_18in_wide_cmyk.psd Art: D.Hanson AP17006A_003C_EarlyCheckIn_SWOP3.tif 008875 BLEED: TRIM: LIVE: (CMYK; 3881 ppi; Up toDate) (CMYK; 3881ppi;Up 15.25” x10” 15.75”x10.5” 16”x10.75” (CMYK; 908 ppi; Up toDate), (CMYK; 908ppi;Up 008875-13A-TAKE_A_BREAK_CMYK-TintRev.eps 008875-13A-TAKE_A_BREAK_CMYK-TintRev.eps (Up toDate), (Up AP- American Express-RegMark-4C.ai AP- AmericanExpress-RegMark-4C.ai (Up toDate), (Up sbs_fr_chg_plat_met- at americanexpress.com/exploreplatinum at PlatinumMembership Business of theworld Explore FineHotelsandResorts. hand-picked 975 atover head your andclear early Arrive TerTeTere msm appppply.ly Viistsits ameierier cancaanexpexpresre scs.cs.s com/om busbubusinesspsplatl inuummt to learnmn moreorer . Hogarth &Ogilvy Hogarth 212.237.7000
    [Show full text]
  • WHY COMPETITION in the POLITICS INDUSTRY IS FAILING AMERICA a Strategy for Reinvigorating Our Democracy
    SEPTEMBER 2017 WHY COMPETITION IN THE POLITICS INDUSTRY IS FAILING AMERICA A strategy for reinvigorating our democracy Katherine M. Gehl and Michael E. Porter ABOUT THE AUTHORS Katherine M. Gehl, a business leader and former CEO with experience in government, began, in the last decade, to participate actively in politics—first in traditional partisan politics. As she deepened her understanding of how politics actually worked—and didn’t work—for the public interest, she realized that even the best candidates and elected officials were severely limited by a dysfunctional system, and that the political system was the single greatest challenge facing our country. She turned her focus to political system reform and innovation and has made this her mission. Michael E. Porter, an expert on competition and strategy in industries and nations, encountered politics in trying to advise governments and advocate sensible and proven reforms. As co-chair of the multiyear, non-partisan U.S. Competitiveness Project at Harvard Business School over the past five years, it became clear to him that the political system was actually the major constraint in America’s inability to restore economic prosperity and address many of the other problems our nation faces. Working with Katherine to understand the root causes of the failure of political competition, and what to do about it, has become an obsession. DISCLOSURE This work was funded by Harvard Business School, including the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness and the Division of Research and Faculty Development. No external funding was received. Katherine and Michael are both involved in supporting the work they advocate in this report.
    [Show full text]
  • Brief Amicus Curiae of Norman Ornstein, Thomas Mann
    No. 08-205 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States _________ CITIZENS UNITED, Appellant, v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, Appellee. _________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia _________ BRIEF AMICI CURIAE OF NORMAN ORNSTEIN, THOMAS MANN, ANTHONY CORRADO, AND DANIEL ORTIZ IN SUPPORT OF APPELLEE _________ H. CHRISTOPHER BARTOLOMUCCI Counsel of Record PAUL A. WERNER HOGAN & HARTSON L.L.P. 555 Thirteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004 (202) 637-5810 Counsel for Amici Curiae TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF AUTHORITIES................................... ii STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE ............................................................ 1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT................................ 2 ARGUMENT........................................................... 4 I. THE COURT SHOULD NOT REOPEN THE ISSUE ADVOCACY LOOPHOLE THAT BCRA SECTION 203 CLOSED. ...................... 4 CONCLUSION ....................................................... 16 (i) ii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page CASES: Arizona v. Rumsey, 467 U.S. 203 (1984) ............ 16 Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652 (1990) .......................................... passim Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976) .................... passim FEC v. Beaumont, 539 U.S. 146 (2003)............. passim FEC v. Colorado Republican Fed. Campaign Comm., 533 U.S. 431 (2001)............................. 1 FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986) .......................................... 6, 7, 9 FEC v. National Right to Work Comm., 459 U.S. 197 (1982) ................................................. 5, 6 FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 127 S. Ct. 2652 (2007) ....................................................... 2, 4, 16 McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93 (2003) ............... passim McConnell v. FEC, 251 F. Supp. 2d 176 (D.D.C.), aff’d in part & rev’d in part, 540 U.S. 93 (2003) ............................................ passim Nixon v.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Congress Now the Broken Branch? Barbara Sinclair University of California, Los Angeles
    Utah Law Review Volume 2014 | Number 4 Article 1 8-2014 Is Congress Now the Broken Branch? Barbara Sinclair University of California, Los Angeles Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr Part of the Legislation Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Sinclair, Barbara (2014) "Is Congress Now the Broken Branch?," Utah Law Review: Vol. 2014 : No. 4 , Article 1. Available at: https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2014/iss4/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Utah Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Utah Law Review by an authorized editor of Utah Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IS CONGRESS NOW THE BROKEN BRANCH? Barbara Sinclair∗ INTRODUCTION The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track by Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein was published in 2006. To be sure, criticism of Congress is a staple of American political discourse—the content varies, but the criticism is ubiquitous. Nevertheless, the volume of criticism has ramped up in the past decade or so, and the fact that two highly respected congressional scholars, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein—who are also Washington insiders and known to be sympathetic to Congress—have joined in the criticism needs to be taken seriously. The most frequent criticism in the mid-2000s was that Congress was “uncivil, . too partisan, . gridlocked, . produce[d] earmarks—‘bridges to nowhere’—but not broad legislation in the public
    [Show full text]
  • Democracy and Dysfunction: an Exchange
    DEMOCRACY AND DYSFUNCTION: AN EXCHANGE SANFORD LEVINSON* JACK M. BALKIN** September 29, 2015 Dear Jack, It is obviously no longer controversial that the American political system, especially at the national level, is seriously dysfunctional. Consider, for example, what are nearly the opening words—after noting that the United States Capitol is currently enfolded by scaffolding for repair of the physical building—of the distinguished Columbia political scientist and historian Ira Katznelson’s recent contribution to a Boston Review forum on “Anxieties of Democracy.”1 Even if “[r]estoration is underway, its conclusion in sight,” repair of the institutions inside the Capitol seems a long way off, if it is even possible.2 Katznelson continues: The House and Senate are presently shackled. Paralyzed by party divisions, influenced excessively by moneyed interests, and perverted by the disappearance of civic virtue, representative institutions appear unable to identify and address our most consequential public problems, including the politics of redistribution, racial equity, immigration, and the proper balance between liberty and national security. Like the dome, American democracy badly needs reconstruction.3 * Professor Sanford Levinson, who holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law, joined the University of Texas Law School in 1980. Professor Levinson is also, in both fall 2015 and 2016, a visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association in 2010. Among his books is Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance (2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Al Franken: You Can Call Me Senator the Satirist and Comedian Has a New Role: Statesman
    Al Franken: You Can Call Me Senator The satirist and comedian has a new role: statesman. by JESSE KORNBLUTH The junior senator from Minnesota, in his Capitol Hill office Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, please contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746. aul Wellstone didn’t mind taking unpopular Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and ev- positions. In 1990, his first year as junior U.S. sena- ery pundit who thought his candidacy was a bigger joke than any tor from Minnesota, he voted against the Gulf War. he’d written for Saturday Night Live. President George H.W. Bush’s reaction: “Who is that chickenshit?” An equal-opportunity offender, Alan stuart Franken, now 60, was born in New York, but his Wellstone was the only Democrat to vote against father, seeking opportunity, moved his wife and their two sons to President Bill Clinton’s welfare-reform bill. And when the sec- Minneapolis when Al was young. Joe Franken was a printing sales- Pond Bush administration was rounding up votes for an invasion of man, yet Al attended Blake, generally acknowledged as the most ex- Iraq, Wellstone said he heard from Vice President Dick Cheney: clusive private school in Minneapolis. How did that happen? “If you vote against the war in Iraq, the Bush administration will There is no better question to ask Al Franken. In his Senate of- do whatever is necessary to get you. There will be severe ramifica- fice, settled into the obligatory leather couch, he leaned forward tions for you and the state of Minnesota.” and looked back.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Transcript
    CONGRESS-2017/08/02 1 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION SAUL/ZILKHA ROOM PROCEDURE AND POLITICS IN THE 115th CONGRESS Washington, D.C. Wednesday, August 2, 2017 PARTICIPANTS: SARAH A. BINDER, MODERATOR Senior Fellow, Governance Studies The Brookings Institution NORM ORNSTEIN Resident Scholar American Enterprise Institute RICHARD RUBIN U.S. Tax Policy Reporter Wall Street Journal SARAH KLIFF Senior Editor Vox MOLLY E. REYNOLDS Senior Fellow, Governance Studies The Brookings Institution * * * * * ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 CONGRESS-2017/08/02 2 P R O C E E D I N G S MS. BINDER: Well, thanks very much. I’m Sarah Binder, a senior fellow here in Governance Studies. I have the pleasure of moderating today. I’m going to introduce our speakers. I’ll say just a minute about Molly and her book, and then we’ll open it up to get going. To my left is Molly Reynolds, a fellow here in Governance Studies and the author of “Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the U.S. Senate,” which will be the launching point for us in thinking about procedural politics and their implications for policy, in particular health and tax today. Next, Norman Ornstein, a resident fellow at American Enterprise Institute and long, long time political science observer of Washington and everything in it. Then Sarah Kliff from Vox, a senior editor who specializes in healthcare coverage. And then Richard Rubin, U.S. tax policy reporter from The Wall Street Journal.
    [Show full text]
  • Toward a More Responsible Congress?
    TOWARD A MORE RESPONSIBLE CONGRESS? CONGRESS AND RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT SOTIRIOS A. BARBER∗ INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 689 I. PUBLIUS ON RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT........................................... 691 II. THE LARGE COMMERCIAL REPUBLIC.................................................. 693 III. PUBLIC REASONABLENESS .................................................................. 698 IV. PUBLIC REASONABLENESS, THE LARGE COMMERCIAL REPUBLIC, AND A RESPONSIBLE CONGRESS.......................................................... 703 CONCLUSION: WHY RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT? ........................................ 710 INTRODUCTION Can today’s Congress change from a “broken branch” to a responsible branch? Five months before the presidential election of 2008, the New York Times editorialized that, for Congress, such a transition depended on electing a better President.1 The New York Times lamented the Senate’s failure to mandate a seventy-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Though “short of what most climate scientists believe is necessary,” a seventy percent reduction would still be “an important first step” toward preventing climate change.2 The editorial went on to cite several causes of the bill’s failure. The bill could not attract the sixty votes now routinely needed to put important measures to a Senate vote.3 The bill’s Democratic manager had not spent enough time discussing the bill’s potential economic impact.4 Republican leaders who were “more interested in protecting industry than the environment behaved like babies, at one point spitefully forcing a complete reading of the 492-page bill, sapping any political momentum.”5 Finally, record gas prices that spring had made the bill’s timing “terrible.”6 After three-and-a-half days of “failure to mount any sort of grown-up debate,” and ∗ Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame 1 Editorial, Another Failure in Climate Change, N.Y.
    [Show full text]
  • Congress Inside Crablue
    THE CONGRESS Preserving Our Institutions THE FIRST REPORT OF THE CONTINUITY OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION Preserving Our Institutions THE CONTINUITY OF CONGRESS THE FIRST REPORT OF THE CONTINUITY OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION MAY 2003 Continuity of Government Commission Continuity of Government Commission www.continuityofgovernment.org The Continuity of Government Commission is deeply dedicated to ensuring that our three branches of government would be able to function after a catastrophic attack that killed or incapacitated large numbers of our legislators, executive branch officials, or judges. It was, of course, the attacks of September 11th that prodded us to consider how an attack on our leaders and institutions might debilitate our country just at the very time strong leadership and legitimate institutions were most needed. In the aftermath of September 11th, our nation was able to call on the statesmanship and resolve of public officials operating through normal constitutional channels. If the attack had been more horrible, we might not have been able to respond so effectively. Our first report—Preserving Our Institutions: The Continuity of Congress—addresses the continu- ity of our first branch of government. The commission will issue subsequent reports on the continuity of the presidency and the Supreme Court. We chose to begin with Congress because it is the insti- tution least able to reconstitute itself after a catastrophic attack. While some protections exist for reconstituting the presidency pursuant to the Presidential Succession Act, under our current con- stitutional framework, Congress would have a far more difficult time filling large numbers of its own vacancies after an attack. It might not function well or at all for many months.
    [Show full text]
  • From Edmund Burke to Donald Trump
    International Social Science Review Volume 97 Issue 2 Article 16 June 2021 Extended Commentary: The Devolution of Conservatism: From Edmund Burke to Donald Trump Ronald J. Berger Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr Part of the Anthropology Commons, Communication Commons, Economics Commons, Geography Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Political Science Commons, and the Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons Recommended Citation Berger, Ronald J. (2021) "Extended Commentary: The Devolution of Conservatism: From Edmund Burke to Donald Trump," International Social Science Review: Vol. 97 : Iss. 2 , Article 16. Available at: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr/vol97/iss2/16 This Response or Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Social Science Review by an authorized editor of Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository. Extended Commentary: The Devolution of Conservatism: From Edmund Burke to Donald Trump Cover Page Footnote Ronald J. Berger is a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. This response or comment is available in International Social Science Review: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr/vol97/iss2/16 Berger: Extended Commentary: The Devolution of Conservatism: From Edmund Burke to Donald Trump The Devolution of Conservatism: From Edmund Burke to Donald Trump There is much talk these days about the need to find unity and common ground in our politics so we can come together and “get things done” for the American people. But for this talk to be anything more than facile, we need to delineate the ideological viewpoints that are in need of communicative discourse.
    [Show full text]
  • A Joint Project of the Campaign Finance Institute, American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution Ii Iii
    A Joint Project of The Campaign Finance Institute, American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution ii iii Contents Executive summary . 1 Recommendations . 3 PART I: New communications, new agenda? . 5 Introduction . 7 New communications . 8 The Obama campaign: A new model? . 12 Small donors’ small role: The need for broader participation, even after Obama . 15 PART II: Recommendations for reform . 27 Introduction . 29 Ensuring open and accessible communications and information . 29 n Communications infrastructure . 30 n Reducing information costs . 31 Improving transparency . 32 Refining contribution limits . 34 Redefining public funding . 36 n Multiple matching funds for small donors . 40 n Lower contribution limits instead of spending limits . 41 n Early money . 43 n Qualifying threshold . 44 n Funding maximums . 45 n Tax credits or rebates . 46 Enhancing party-candidate relations and electoral accountability . 48 Endnotes . 54 About the authors . 56 Reform in an Age of Networked Campaigns PART I: NEW COMMUNICATIONS, NEW AGENDA? PART I: NEW COMMUNICATIONS, NEW AGENDA? Reform in an Age of Networked Campaigns iv 1 Executive summary The political world has been arguing about campaign finance policy for decades. A once rich conversation has become a stale two-sided battleground. One side sees contribution or spending limits as essential to restraining corruption, the appearance of corruption, or the “undue influence” of wealthy donors. The other resists any such limits in the name of free speech. The time has come to leap over this gulf and, as much as possible, move the dis- putes from the courts. Preventing corruption and protecting free speech should each be among the key goals of any policy regime, but they should not be the only objec- tives.
    [Show full text]