Democracy by the People

Thanks to a series of recent US Supreme Court decisions, corporations can now spend unlimited sums to influence elections, Super PACs and dark money groups are flourishing, and wealthy individuals and special interests increasingly dominate American politics. Despite the overwhelming support of Americans to fix this broken system, serious efforts at reform have languished. Campaign finance is a highly intricate and complex area of the law, and the current system favors the incumbent politicians who oversee it. This illuminating book takes these hard realities as a starting point and offers realistic solutions to reform campaign finance. With contributions from more than a dozen leading scholars of election law, it should be read by anyone interested in reclaiming the promise of American democracy.

Sets out multiple solutions for reforming the American campaign finance system in a clear and concise way
Brings together a number of the world's leading experts in election law and campaign finance law
Offers several comparative perspectives on the American campaign finance system

Reviews & endorsements

‘At a time when pay-to-play plutocrats and foreign presidential payoffs are choking off government by the people, the contributors to this timely collection are reviving the project of American democracy with a series of practical and viable reform proposals. In a dark time, we owe them thanks for bringing the light.' Jamie Raskin, Vice-Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and American University, Washington

‘Many of us are discouraged about a campaign finance system that has led to widespread distrust of our political process. Reform seems impossible because of entrenched interests and an unsympathetic Supreme Court. But this timely book shows that significant pragmatic change is achievable. Democracy by the People is required reading for citizens, activists and scholars alike - it is a tour de force.' Ann Ravel, Former Chair and Commissioner, Federal Election Commission, and Former Chair, California Fair Political Practices Commission

'Democracy by the People is insightful, innovative, and timely. With the Supreme Court unlikely to reverse course on campaign finance law anytime soon, this edited volume offers thought-provoking proposals that could significantly curtail the role of money in politics even without constitutional change. The analyses are lucid, novel, and present creative ideas for reforming campaign finance in America.' Adam Winkler, University of California, Los Angeles and author of We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights

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Product details

Published: October 2018
Format: Adobe eBook Reader
ISBN: 9781316835906
Length: 0 pages
Weight: 0kg
Contains: 1 b/w illus.
Availability: This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

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Contents

Introduction: democracy by the wealthy: campaign finance reform as the issue of our time Timothy K. Kuhner and Eugene D. Mazo
Part I. Defining the Problem:
1. The third coming of American plutocracy: what campaign finance reformers are up against Timothy K. Kuhner
2. Liberty, equality, bribery, and self-government: reframing the campaign finance debate Deborah Hellman
3. Aligning campaign finance law Nicholas Stephanopoulos
Part II. Proposed Solutions:
4. Reforming campaign finance reform: the future of public funding Richard Briffault
5. Raising all of our voices for democracy: a hybrid public funding proposal Adam Lioz
6. Reorienting disclosure debates in a post-Citizens United world Katherine Shaw
7. Beyond repair: FEC reform and deadlock deference Daniel P. Tokaji
8. The People's Pledge: campaign finance reform without legal reform Ganesh Sitaraman
9. Super PAC insurance: a private sector solution to reform campaign finance Nick Warshaw
10. Constraining and channeling corporate political power in Trump's America Kent Greenfield
11. Reforming lobbying Maggie McKinley
12. Regulating campaign finance through legislative recusal rules Eugene D. Mazo
13. Contributions and corruption: restoring aggregate limits in the States Michael D. Gilbert
14. Developing better empirical evidence for future campaign finance cases Brent Ferguson and Chisun Lee
15. Fixing the Supreme Court's mistake: the case for the twenty-eighth Amendment Ronald A. Fein
Part III. Inspiration from Abroad:
16. The repudiation of Buckley v. Valeo K. D. Ewing
17. Equal participation and campaign finance Yasmin Dawood
18. Political finance and political equality: lessons from Europe Óscar Sánchez Muñoz.

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Contributors

Timothy K. Kuhner, Eugene D. Mazo, Deborah Hellman, Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Richard Briffault, Adam Lioz, Katherine Shaw, Daniel P. Tokaji, Ganesh Sitaraman, Nick Warshaw, Kent Greenfield, Maggie McKinley, Michael D. Gilbert, Brent Ferguson, Chisun Lee, Ronald A. Fein, K. D. Ewing, Yasmin Dawood, Óscar Sánchez Muñoz

Editors

Eugene D. Mazo , Rutgers University, New Jersey
Eugene D. Mazo is Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Rutgers University, New Jersey. He is the editor of Election Law Stories (2016), a book that tells the history of the thirteen most important Supreme Court cases in election law. He serves as treasurer of the Section on Election Law and on the executive committee of the Section on Constitutional Law at the Association of American Law Schools. Mazo has taught at the law schools of the University of Baltimore, George Mason University, Virginia, the University of Maryland, and Wake Forest University, North Carolina. A graduate of Columbia College, Missouri, he holds a master's degree from Harvard University, Massachusetts, a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford, and a law degree from Stanford University, California.
Timothy K. Kuhner , University of Auckland
Timothy K. Kuhner is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Auckland. He is the author of Capitalism v. Democracy: Money in Politics and the Free Market Constitution (2014), a book that received acclaim from Thomas Piketty, Lawrence Lessig, Erwin Chemerinsky, the Harvard Law Review, and the Law and Politics Book Review. Kuhner was previously Associate Professor of Law at the Georgia State University College of Law, a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Barcelona, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellow in Latin America. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College, Maine and holds a J.D. and an LL.M. from Duke Law School, North Carolina.

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