Senator Mitch McConnell, a states-rights conservative, says there is not enough money in politics. Yet on the third day of debate he opposed an amendment, sponsored by Senator Paul Wellstone, that would have allowed states to enact voluntary full public funding for federal candidates. The leading reform group, Common Cause, has given every indication that it will accept this tradeoff. The rationalization for such a deal is lost on Stephanie Wilson. She knows that there is far more hard money in the system than soft money.
Reform encompasses real change, and improves the plight of the majority.
That's an interesting statement for a voting-rights activist, whose movement has always focused on securing the rights of a minority to share power and justice with the majority. That's more than 99 percent of Americans. A tiny majority, some one-half of one percent, gives almost all the money in politics. These donors are the cash constituents who enjoy first class citizenship and whose concerns now command the priorities of government. The Senate's reform debate offers fine proof of this.