At this a constitutional amendment about campaign finance reform is sorely needed though impossible to accomplish.
Congresswoman Pelosi is a troubling figure, if for no other reason than she claims to have Constitutional knowledge but demonstrates she doesn't know the Constitution on many occasions. She also isn't a good representative for the Democrats but that isn't the issue. However, I understand the underlying point.
Campaign finance in this country is out of control and not anywhere near the ideals of the founders. Of course our current country has become the exact thing we revolted against in 1776 so I don't know how biting that criticism is anymore.
The Citizens United case is a harbinger of a scary trend in Constitutional cases. I'm sorry, but corporations are not individuals. They may be made up of individuals, but they don't have electoral voice. The Supreme Court's decision was a poor one imho. It extends the free exercise clause too far.
We need substantial campaign finance reform if our country is going to return to the ideals of its originators. All, yep all, soft money contributions should be eliminated. No candidate should be able to provide personal income or personal loans to their own election campaign. The only money which should be able to be raise should be hard money contributions. All other contributions are unlawful and disqualify a candidate prior to or after their election.
One of the greatest challenges to our electoral process is the flow of money to candidates and the resulting influence on legislation that brings. (I'm also in favor of high regulations on lobbyists.) Though many previous generations had the sensibility to not become corrupted by these financial obligations it is clear our present leaders do not have their common sense or decency. We need drastic overhauls to the system.
