Buying the Vote: A History of Campaign Finance Reform

Are corporations citizens? Is political inequality a necessary aspect of a democracy or something that must be stamped out? These are the questions that have been at the heart of the debate surrounding campaign finance reform for nearly half a century. But as Robert E. Mutch demonstrates in this fascinating book, these were not always controversial matters. The tenets that corporations do not count as citizens, and that self-government functions best by reducing political inequality, were commonly heldup until the early years of the twentieth century, when Congress recognized the strength of these principles by prohibiting corporations from making campaign contributions, passing a disclosure law, and setting limits on campaign expenditures. But conservative opposition began to appear in the 1970s. Well represented on the Supreme Court, opponents of campaign finance reform won decisions granting First Amendment rights to corporations, and declaring the goal of reducing political inequality to be unconstitutional. Buying the Vote analyzes the rise and decline of campaign finance reform by tracking the evolution of both the ways in which presidential campaigns have been funded since the late nineteenth century. Through close examinations of major Supreme Court decisions, Mutch shows how the Court has fashioned a new and profoundly inegalitarian definition of American democracy. Drawing on rarely studied archival materials on presidential campaign finance funds, Buying the Vote is an illuminating look at politics, money, and power in America.

Introduction Chapter One From Plutocrats to Populists: 1884-1900 Chapter Two The 1904 Election and the First Scandals: 1904-1907 Chapter Three The Beginning of Reform: 1905-1907 Chapter Four The Triumph of Reform: 1908-1911 Chapter Five Big Business Money Remains Dominant: 1912-1928 Chapter Six Organized Labor Becomes Active: 1932-1948 Chapter Seven The Revival of Reform: 1952-1972 Chapter Eight From Buckley to Austin: 1976-1990 Chapter Nine From Reform to Reaction: 1996-Present Conclusion Appendix Contributors to Theodore Roosevelt's 1904 Campaign References Index