ABSTRACT
The relationships between political action committees and political parties are at once symbiotic and parasitic. Both parties work hard to cultivate political action committees (PAC) and secure their money, and most PACs energetically endeavor to be of use bipartisanly. PACs provide avenues for participation and political liberty, but have questionable effects on competition, accountability, governmental legitimacy, and effectiveness. Journalists’ obsession with PACs, reinforced by the predilections of various public interest groups, has focused attention on PAC excesses to the near exclusion of other concerns in the area of political money. The PACs have stolen the media spotlight, but the parties, an important check on the abuses of PAC power, are holding their own in the long-term battle for political supremacy. While individuals and PACs represent particular interests and further the atomization of public policy, the parties encompass more general concerns and push the system toward consensus.
