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.

Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) have introduced truly groundbreaking legislation that deals precisely with this issue.  The Fair Elections Now Act would replace a special-interest funded campaign system with one that is funded by both public funding and small-dollar donations.  By stripping candidates of the incentive to fall into the pockets of powerful special interests through the pursuit of large campaign donations, members of Congress would be free to pursue the interests of their constituents and focus on making sound policy judgments without the taint of a corruption-friendly system.  This is precisely what representative democracy is all about.

Lawrence Lessig has launched a Change Congress campaign that backs this legislation.  It seems to be gaining some ground and this bill, or some version of it, just might make it through Congress if enough people join the cause by pressuring their representatives to vote for it.

I usually have trouble taking a side on a particular issue since there are very few that are simply black or white.  But this is one of those things that is just so basic in its necessity that I can’t help but strongly support it.