The point leads to a larger one. It is that we haven't got a money question here, we've got a power question. All politics, we come to realize, is about the distribution and deployment of power. The more a government has to offer in the way of advantages, privileges and opportunities, the more clamorous grows the bidding for a piece of that offering. The alleged campaign-finance problem is a function of the power problem in Washington.
Big government invites big giving.
Big givers generally want the government either to impinge on someone else's opportunities and advantages or to extend their own opportunities and advantages. The way to deal with this admittedly substandard state of affairs isn't to hem in financial givers. One way is to make it transparently public who gives what to whom. Less money in the Treasury means less money to clamor for if you happen to be, or to represent, an interest group. Money and power are inseparable commodities in most places, but especially in Washington.