On January 30, 1976, the Supreme Court of the United States issued the infamous Buckley v. Valeo ruling that struck down campaign finance reforms intended to reduce the undue influence of wealthy interests on election outcomes. By wrongly equating big money in politics with free speech, the Court has blocked reforms to our electoral process that would let ordinary Americans determine who runs for office, who wins elections, and what issues dominate the agenda.
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The Buck Buckley Campaign
What Current and Former Officials Are Saying About Buckley "The
Court mistakenly equated candidates' right to spend unlimited sums of
money with their right to free speech. ...The Court made a huge mistake."
"The
public's revulsion at the amount of money in politics, when couples with
the agreement of a broad group of respected legal scholars regarding the
Buckley decision, should pave the way for Congressional efforts to restore
sanity to the political process by way of rational and reasonable spending
limits." "We're
kidding ourselves if we think we can dance around the absurd notion that
money equals speech and therefore can't be limited." "The
Supreme Court decision that prevents limits on campaign spending must
be directly confronted...to make clear that money does not equal free
speech."
"When
we equate spending money with speech, then speech is no longer free.
Moneyed interests can speak louder than the rest of us and America becomes
less of a democracy and more of a special interest state. The Supreme
Court's ruling is wrong and must be overturned." "The
Buckley decision ensured that the trend of campaign spending increases
will continue. ...Wealthy candidates can, sometimes, virtually buy themselves
a political office." "Freedom
of speech is a precious thing. But protecting it does not permit
someone to shout 'fire' in a crowded theater. Equally, freedom of
speech must not be stressed so as to compel democracy to commit suicide
by allowing money to govern elections." "The
Supreme Court in Buckley was wrong in nullifying certain congressional
efforts to limit campaign spending and...the decision should not be allowed
to stand." |
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What Current and Former Officials Are Saying About Buckley |