How the campaign finance system is eroding confidence in Congress

[Commentary] For at least 40 years, congressional campaign finance regulation has been about saying no. The laws regulating Congress and congressional elections have limited large contributions from individuals and political action committees. They have banned contributions from corporations. The aim throughout has been to restrict the amount of money in political campaigns and to vigorously disclose that part not restricted. Except for contributions to independent committees, every campaign contributor giving more than $200 is as easily discovered as movie showtimes on Fandango.

The hope in these regulations was that sunlight and constraint would somehow make politics clean and expand confidence in government. Things haven't quite worked out that way.

With each new set of constraints, those interests seeking access (and more) build ever more elaborate means to feed a dependent Congress the campaign cash it so desperately needs. The result hasn't been a rising tide of confidence or the belief that lawmakers stand independent from their funders. Quite the opposite: The vast majority of Americans believe, rightly or wrongly, that money buys results in Congress. Confidence in Congress is at a historic low -- 11 percent, according to a July Gallup poll. Arguably, more believed in the British monarchy at the time of the Revolution than believe in our Congress today. How low does public confidence have to fall before leaders in Congress recognize that their institution is bankrupt? At what point do we, the People, get to debate a meaningful alternative? The House Committee on Administration's answer is the right one -- now, just as the nation launches the largest special-interest-funded congressional campaign in our history.