Colbert and Changing Congress

Earlier this week, Stephen Colbert nailed why the Change Congress movement, which I’ve written a little bit about here, is so vital. 

Now, even if there were some good policy reasons for Gutierrez’s u-turn, the current campaign finance system will always raise the appearance of corruption.  We can never be sure whether members of Congress in Gutierrez’s position are serving their constituents’ interests or their own.  A system that incentivizes members of congress to sell-out for campaign contributions is thus immensely flawed.  More on this from Change Congress:

Colbert accuses him of selling out to the Payday Loan industry for a mere $10,000. Gutierrez dramatically watered down his “Payday Loan Reform Act” in a way that will make the Payday industry billions — at the expense of the little guy.  It was a smart investment for the Payday industry. But it’s horrible for our democracy. Colbert’s segment basically made the case for why Congress needs to pass the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act, which would put in place public funding of congressional elections (while still allowing Obama-style small donations, matching them four to one).

If there are any counterarguments for keeping the current campaign finance regime in place, I’d love to hear them.