But after Watergate we saw the corrupting influence of money, so we decided to do something about it. We created the Federal Election Commission and passed elaborate reporting requirements so we could see where the money came from, who got it, and how it was spent. This transformed our political landscape, it gave us the Political Action Committee. Yeah. That was sure an improvement. Or something.

Just six years later we got the conservative takeover with Reagan, a Republican Senate and the takeover of the judiciary by the Federalist Society. Fourteen years later we saw the takeover of the House of Representatives by people like Gingrich and Tom Delay. So how's that campaign finance reform thing working for us?

Some alleged that the answer was even more campaign finance reform in the form of the McCain-Feigngold Campaign Finance Reform Act. So, how is that working for us? See any reduction of corporate power? No? Didn't think so.

The progressives (we're too chicken to call ourselves liberals) who promoted this Rube Goldberg contraption are people who have never served on a political committee. These laws do not empower ordinary Americans, on the contrary, they impose suffocating bookeeping obligations on volunteer organizations.

Let me try to explain how this plays out in the real world. During state elections the district committees of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee send out what is known as a precinct letter. It goes out to Democratic voters asking them to support our candidates. We are not doing one this year because under the new law, this would exceed the maximum we can contribute to a federal candidate. We can do a joint campaign brochure and sample ballot and no more. Obviously in terms of volunteer activities we can do much more, but we can't spend anymore.

The bookeeping obligations under the new law are too onerous. It used to be that when someone new joined the committee they would send in their application and check together. We would hold their check until they had been formerly voted onto the committee. Since the committee only meets six times a year there can be quite a time lag. Under the new law requiring a timely report of contributions we cannot hold checks. We have to get the application, vote the new member onto the committee and then collect the filing fee. It is a great burden and does not empower ordinary people.

We have expended an enormous amount of time and energy on campaign finance reform and do not seem to have anything to show for it. Suppose we had spent the same amount of energy into finding ways to empower ordinary citizens rather then limiting the power of corporations. News flash, the two are not the same.