Campaign Finance Reform

Student Podcasts: US Federal Government and Politics, Beloit College

By Beau Fountaine

On this riveting episode of my podcast I talk about campaign finance, focusing primarily on Citizen’s United and the fallout of that Supreme Court decision. I also explore the history of campaign finance in America from the mudslinging of the election of 1800 to the 2016 election, including a great speech from Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. I discuss possible solutions to the problems of America’s campaign finance system borrowing from Richard Hasen’s very interesting book, Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections. I interviewed many of my peers and found something quite surprising.

In the spirit of liberal arts in practice I played my instruments several times for this project.

https://johnamcmahon.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/fountaine.mp3

References
Richard Hasen: “Plutocrats United”

Lucky Chops: “Best Things” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldshRnfI9xU

Imperial March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8

Bernie Sanders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CykwVD_f2sc

Seth Maket: https://psmag.com/just-how-much-of-a-problem-is-campaign-money-2fe54d9cc553#.900wd9sjv