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The Internet has spawned a whole new side to political campaigning. On many top political sites, such as Dailykos.com or TownHall.com, it's as easy as pressing a button to contribute to any number of candidates, all over the country. A contribution may be as little as $1. Would it even make sense to list the name of a person contributing only that much?

Campaign finance laws are designed to prevent deep pockets from buying candidates. In theory it keeps the politicians honest. Suppose a big name pharmaceutical company, banking on stem cell research, found a way to bankroll some Congressional candidacies. They could theoretically come back on those politicians and ask for votes in favor of that particular research, whether the populace wanted that or not. Without public access to contribution records, unscrupulous politicians could pay back the big ticket donors in hopes of raising even more money during the next election.

Those who don't have the money to buy votes or policy changes are no threat to the democratic process. There is no threat that John Doe who contributed $199 to Mitt Romney is going to see any kind of influence should Romney win the White House. And so Romney's campaign shouldn't be forced to do the extra work to make sure John's name is listed as a contributor. This goes for any of the campaigns. The most attention any campaign is going to pay to the small fish is to pander for his vote- sending a letter, email, or posting in his online community. When the election is over the people who contributed the less to any of the campaigns will most likely be summarily forgotten.

Keeping the politicians from hiding the big dollar donors is good for all voters. We are more informed and better able to decide if we want to trust a candidate. For instance, if they say they're pro-union but accept bit money from Wal-Mart can they be trusted? And so the extra money and effort to keep track of them does all voters a favor. But it's a waste of time and resources to track Joe Schmoe, especially if he contributed no more than a dollar.

Learn more about this author, Lizzie Flynn.
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