Graduation Year
Fall 2011
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
Paul Hurley
Reader 2
George Thomas
Reader 3
Gregory Hess
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2011 Patrick Paterson
Abstract
Justifications for campaign finance regulations in the United States have traditionally taken one of two approaches. The first and most common has been to allege that unrestricted campaign contributions and expenditures lend themselves to corruption, or to the appearance of corruption. The second, used far less often than the first, has argued that unchecked spending on an election compromises the principle of political equality--the idea that each individual should have equal say in the democratic process. This paper defends political equality as a value worth preserving, demonstrates that our current campaign finance system is dangerous to political equality, proposes some solutions to that problem, and evaluate the constitutionality of those solutions.
Recommended Citation
Paterson, Patrick, "Money Talks: Free Speech and Political Equality in Campaign Finance Reform" (2011). CMC Senior Theses. 263.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/263
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
