by Carl M

Created on: June 25, 2007   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

No matter what limit you put on spending in a political campaign, the candidates will find a way to spend more money. You can have a law explicitly saying, "No candidate shall spend more than five million dollars in his/her campaign for public office," but campaigns will find a way to get around the law. Today you have hard money and soft money. Hard money is money that is regulated, and only individuals are allowed to contribute directly to the campaign. Soft money on the other hand, is money sent by organizations that isn't given directly to the campaigns, and do not explicitly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate. Soft money is not regulated and while technically legal is severely frowned upon by many in the political arena.

Money buys you face time with your constituency and that is something that lesser known candidates need if they have a chance to be elected. I'm not saying that I agree with the tactics of some campaigns, but just like there will always be differences between people, there will always be people who want to spend as much money as possible. The only way you can put a real spending limit on a campaign is if the candidates themselves agree to it. A law is just bound to be ignored, or someone will find a way around it. This is a very pessimistic view on things, but some things in life are bad and maybe we just ought to let people spend as much as they want in a campaign. Because, if people are truly paying attention and learning about all the candidates it shouldn't matter how much money a campaign spends, because the best candidate will be elected.

In closing, I must say that I wish constituencies would spend the time to learn about each candidate, but that is a hope that will never come to fruition. Campaigns that spend more money have a leg up on everyone else, which is not fair but is part of life. I firmly believe that the best candidate will win if they are creative enough and are willing to do something different, so no there shouldn't be a spending limit on campaigns, because no matter what you do to regulate something people will always find a way around it. Take the time to explore every candidate and only then will the amount that someone spends become irrelevant.

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