The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill currently before Congress could be a step in the right direction, but only a small step. In 1964, Ms. Hamer was a representative of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which was created by civil rights groups. At great risk, the Mississippi Freedom Democrats had fielded their own candidates, run independent campaigns, and held a primary representative of Mississippi's disenfranchised African-American community. We didn't come all this way for no two seats. Symbolic appeasement is not reform.
Reform encompasses real change, and improves the plight of the majority.
What's needed with campaign finance reform is real change. And those with money to contribute have much more power than the average voter. Congress must take this issue seriously, and address our system's inequities. The McCain-Feingold bill proposed in Congress is one small step in that direction. In the spirit of Fannie Lou Hamer, we must push for meaningful, not token change.