Volume 1, Issue 1, 2013
Alex Freundlich
Pages 41-65
“Affirmative Equality”
The Way to Equitable Campaign Finance Reform
In this paper, I offer a new and cogent argument that would allow equitable campaign finance reform to be constitutional: the Supreme Court, beginning with Buckley v. Valeo, has consistently struck down campaign finance regulations that are necessary for making the electoral system as equitable as possible. The Court has ruled that such regulations are unconstitutional when evaluated against the First Amendment right to free speech. Because of past electoral discrimination in colonial and postcolonial America, and because the effects of that discrimination are extant and flagrant, a compelling argument for equitable campaign finance reform can be made. Through a new concept called “affirmative equality,” which is based on affirmative action, I show that equitable campaign finance reform is attainable and that it should be carried out. At the end of the paper, I respond to objections to my argument, and show that these objections are wanting.