Private Funding in Campaigns

Republican super PACs have contributed to donating over $50 million to the Republican Party alone this year for the political campaign. PACs support several of the politicians running for the presidency and I think it’s good that people and organizations support the politician they are pulling for.  However, I think private funding for campaigns has gotten a little out of hand.

PACs have spent millions of dollars towards producing negative advertisements about the politician’s opponents, some of which aren’t even true. According to the New York Times, in January, the super PACs supporting both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, spent $17.6 million combined on advertisements to bash each other. The millions of dollars spent on these advertisements doesn’t even guarantee that politician’s victory, as Newt Gingrich found out in the Florida primary. 

So exactly what effects do PACs have on the election? According to Economics and Politics, PACs can influence elections in two different ways. They can either change the legislatures voting behavior, or simply affect the outcome of the election. The Daily Beast also says that the advertisements funded by the PACs have an even bigger influence on the primaries then the candidates own ads do. Super PACs have influence the outcomes of the Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida caucuses.

How can we control these PACs? The Huffington Post suggested that congress pass new legislation to limit the total amount of money that can be donated to a PAC by a single person. Also, each PAC organization should have an executive in each ad to take accountability for what is publicized in the commercials and notify Americans who their main funders are. I think both of these proposed solutions are a good idea. People usually think twice before doing anything if they are going to be held accountable for their actions so having a representative from the PAC in each ad might make them reconsider what they put into those commercials. This might eliminate several negative advertisements and PACs will become more positive for whom they support rather than negative for whom they oppose.

I think PACs are a very good thing, and it’s important that people support whoever they follow. However, I think PACs have gone too far into supporting their politician. I think the political candidates themselves should dictate whether or not they win the caucus by how they appeal to the American people. False advertisements shouldn’t be the deciding factor for who will win the presidency. I think lawmakers should look into putting limitations on PACs so people focus on what the candidates themselves present, not the PACs.