In an op-ed for the Washington Post, R.R. Reno and Marc Geffroy propose a creative way to reform campaign finance—anonymity:
Our system of campaign finance is corrupt. Money floods into campaign coffers, but rarely because of a heartfelt desire to advance a political cause. The three most important words in Washington are access, access, access. Money, of course, buys access.
There is a way to break the iron grip on access that campaign contributions provide. The United States should establish an anonymous campaign finance system. We need a federally chartered clearinghouse for campaign donations that matches donors to designated, registered candidates and political action committees. Under such a system, politicians would not know who supports their careers, er, causes.
March 21st, 2010 | 3:28 pm
What you do is, you whisper to the candidate — expect a good bump in your donations next week — and lo and behold, the bump is there — and so the candidate knows you did it.
March 21st, 2010 | 5:38 pm
Mary, that’s what I was thinking. It seems laughably easy to circumvent.
March 22nd, 2010 | 1:10 pm
Yeah, all you’d have to do is specify a peculiar amount for your donation and they’ll know who gave it. “When you get a donation for $47,856 next week, you’ll know who it’s from.”
March 22nd, 2010 | 9:37 pm
Joe, Joe, Joe, how naive can one be? The only people who would know who donates to this “fund” would be the politicians! The people who would not know who donates would be us! The pols would be running this fund, right? DUH!!!
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