Question:
Do you think the democratic process is at risk? If so, why
and what needs to be done so the democratic process thrives in an
information society?
Response:
I agree that our democratic process is seriously undermined by our current
system of campaign financing, and by the undue influence of special interests
it allows. I said it six years ago, when I was elected to the Senate, and it
remains true: the central ethical issue of politics in our time is the
dominance of governmental decision-making by monied special interests.
I do not need to rehearse the many serious problems with our system. Most of
us are agreed on the bottom line: the system does not have, and has not had
for many years, the confidence of the American people. With the advent of
"search-and-destroy" politics, and the exploitation of enormous loopholes in
our current campaign laws, many Americans see the system as inherently
corrupt, and have despaired of making any real changes because they figure
special interests have the system permanently rigged. Too many people have
lost faith and confidence in Congress and in the Presidency, in the laws we
enact, and in our democracy itself, because of the money chase and the
appearance of corruption it gives.
As the author of the new strict Senate rules on special interest gifts,
co-author of the new lobbyist reform law, and the Senate author of the most
sweeping campaign reform legislation introduced in the Congress, I have been
a major advocate for tough, comprehensive political reform. Restoring
Americans' trust in our political process, renewing their hope in the
capacity of our political system to respond to our society's most basic
problems and challenges, and providing a channel for the anger that many
Americans feel about the current system has been one of my main goals in the
Senate.
Our job is to restore public confidence by enacting genuine reform
legislation now that is fair to Democrats, Republicans and independents
alike, that scales back special interest influence, sets tight new spending
and contribution limits, and levels the political playing field between
challengers and incumbents by providing incentives -- whether public funding,
free media time, free postage, or others -- for candidates to participate in
the system, similar to the benefits provided in the Presidential system. That
system, too, needs reform, including elimination of massive so-called "soft
money" spending, tighter regulation of contributions from overseas sources,
and other changes. Real reform also requires that a majority of a
Congressional candidate's contributors come from their own state, to ensure
democratic accountability to their constituents, and not to outside, monied
special interests. Limiting campaign spending, while bolstering the ability
of candidates to communicate responsibly in an information age through new
and existing information technologies, would go a long way toward restoring
Americans' faith in their democratic process, and toward restoring the
central democratic principle of "one-person, one vote."