Principle, but Not Enough Interest?
I don’t have a great many comments about the presidential primary at the moment. Maybe I will when Iowa finally settles on a date. I’m in a state now of expecting something to happen to shake up the narrative and dreading the possibility that nothing does. The major development that I’ve been running over in my head is John Edwards’ decision to opt into the federal matching system for the primary campaign. This will give him extra money for the next few months, but will limit what he can raise and spend up until the Democratic convention next year. There are many people who think this is a monumentally bad decision, because it means that if Edwards were to win the Democratic nomination, he’d have relatively little money to run a campaign during the spring and summer months when the primary election is supposedly still going on but the general election has for all intents and purposes begun.
Gotta say, I’m one of those people. Admittedly, I was not an Edwards supporter before this, so this is more an example of something that pushes him further down my list than something that changes my mind very much.
Now, Edwards says this is a matter of principle, of showing his support for publicly financed elections. I do have my suspicions about that – it’s late in the game to be making such declarations of principle. But even taking him at his word, it’s a bad way of supporting the principle. Publicly funded elections are not just about reducing a candidate’s dependence on particular donors – and a candidate who accepts matching funds is still going to be looking to collect plenty of $2300 checks. They’re about creating a level playing field where one person can’t drown out another message just by throwing money at it. Unilaterally accepting limits on donations and spending exacerbates that problem, rather than reducing it. So I don’t see how it really supports the principles Edwards is concerned about.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.