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Buying the Vote: A History of Campaign Finance Reform
Are corporations citizens? Is political inequality a necessary aspect of a democracy or something that must be stamped out? These are the questions that have been at the heart of the debate surrounding campaign finance reform for nearly half a century. But as Robert E. Mutch demonstrates in this fascinating book, these were not always controversial matters.
The tenets that corporations do not count as citizens, and that self-government functions best by reducing political inequality, were commonly heldup until the early years of the twentieth century, when Congress recognized the strength of these principles by prohibiting corporations from making campaign contributions, passing a disclosure law, and setting limits on campaign expenditures. But conservative opposition began to appear in the 1970s. Well represented on the Supreme Court, opponents of campaign finance reform won decisions granting First Amendment rights to corporations, and declaring the goal of reducing political inequality to be unconstitutional.
Buying the Vote analyzes the rise and decline of campaign finance reform by tracking the evolution of both the ways in which presidential campaigns have been funded since the late nineteenth century. Through close examinations of major Supreme Court decisions, Mutch shows how the Court has fashioned a new and profoundly inegalitarian definition of American democracy. Drawing on rarely studied archival materials on presidential campaign finance funds, Buying the Vote is an illuminating look at politics, money, and power in America.
The tenets that corporations do not count as citizens, and that self-government functions best by reducing political inequality, were commonly heldup until the early years of the twentieth century, when Congress recognized the strength of these principles by prohibiting corporations from making campaign contributions, passing a disclosure law, and setting limits on campaign expenditures. But conservative opposition began to appear in the 1970s. Well represented on the Supreme Court, opponents of campaign finance reform won decisions granting First Amendment rights to corporations, and declaring the goal of reducing political inequality to be unconstitutional.
Buying the Vote analyzes the rise and decline of campaign finance reform by tracking the evolution of both the ways in which presidential campaigns have been funded since the late nineteenth century. Through close examinations of major Supreme Court decisions, Mutch shows how the Court has fashioned a new and profoundly inegalitarian definition of American democracy. Drawing on rarely studied archival materials on presidential campaign finance funds, Buying the Vote is an illuminating look at politics, money, and power in America.
390 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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208 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 14, 2015
Wow - if you don't read the whole thing - so detailed it boggles the mind - read the prologue and conclusion. You will then understand the role of money in US politics from the late 1800s until 2014!
October 2, 2023
A short yet informative read, this book details years of US political history and the reasoning behind finance reform in campaigning. Robert E. Mutch shares information from the 1800s all the way up the 2000s, and in a way that is interesting for the reader. This book overall is a 3.5/5, would recommend to anyone and everyone who is interested in digging deeper into US government and the way it's been changed over the years.
December 16, 2019
Money has been an important part of U.S. politics from the very beginning of our republic. By whom and for what the money buys has been the question lurking in everyone's minds. Some times it's at the fore front and government works to curb its influence. While at other times the money flows freely with little thought paid to what that money buys. History repeats itself and so does the influence of money and politics.
December 26, 2023
“This was a preview of the shriveled concept of corruption that Anthony Kennedy expressed in Citizens United. In that opinion, he all but explained away the appearance of corruption as something the government had a legitimate interest in preventing: ‘The appearance of influence or access… will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our Democracy.’”
That aged poorly
That aged poorly
May 16, 2018
Informative for anyone working in the field, but the book struggles to pack 100 years of history into 300 pages and make it engaging.
January 29, 2025
I’ve had a keen interest in campaign finance since college. This book gives a great historical account of how we have landed where we are today. Definitely recommend to all people to understand the influence of dark money in politics!
April 10, 2015
Our tales of "heroes and villians are not so much a version of history as an oral tradition that exists apart from historical scholarship."
This book is awesome in its scope (1884 to Citizens United and beyond), and exhaustively researched to the point of near-snooziness in parts. The last 180 pages are lists of Roosevelt's campaign donors, footnotes and an index. Mutch's writing is pointedly straightforward, because he wants to present an unvarnished useful history of the sort that you could hand an 18- or 21-year-old in a couple of years in response to a "why is the system fucked?" sort of question. Ending on a down note (because that's where we are), Mutch does manage to at least make it clear what GOP appointed justices are likely trying to do: they actually believe that corporations are the best stewards of a government that is too big to be effective because they are the only ones big and powerful enough to manage the task.
Sobering, to be sure.
This book is awesome in its scope (1884 to Citizens United and beyond), and exhaustively researched to the point of near-snooziness in parts. The last 180 pages are lists of Roosevelt's campaign donors, footnotes and an index. Mutch's writing is pointedly straightforward, because he wants to present an unvarnished useful history of the sort that you could hand an 18- or 21-year-old in a couple of years in response to a "why is the system fucked?" sort of question. Ending on a down note (because that's where we are), Mutch does manage to at least make it clear what GOP appointed justices are likely trying to do: they actually believe that corporations are the best stewards of a government that is too big to be effective because they are the only ones big and powerful enough to manage the task.
Sobering, to be sure.
September 21, 2014
Interesting, well-researched, and timely book on the history of campaign finance reform. Mutch places particular emphasis on the intersection of this issue and competing visions/understandings of democracy.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews