ABSTRACT
Other, more formal, entry points to the political discourse for the voices of ordinary people are blocked as well. Only one-eighth of 1 percent of all Americans old enough to vote gave a federal candidate for office a $1,000 contribution in the 2000 elections. Most people instinctively understand that under the terms of our campaign finance system they are priced out of real access and influence as effectively as if Congress enacted a new poll tax, charging people for their right to vote. Instead, under the guise of "campaign finance reform," in the spring of 2001 the Senate voted to double the individual contribution limit to $2,000 —a boon to incumbents and wealthy donors but a mockery of real reform. And, because of the lack of public financing, even the good people in Congress are forced to spend most of their time chasing checks from the rich. Is it any wonder there's more interest on Capitol Hill in cutting tax rates for the wealthy, deregulating the financial sector, and making bankruptcy law friendlier to credit card companies than there is in expanding health care coverage to the uninsured or rebuilding crumbling public schools? Even in the heat of the post-September 11 crisis, some members of Congress were pressing to reward their backers in the energy industry with a rush to open the Alaskan wilderness to oil rigs, while others bickered over extending unemployment benefits to people displaced by the attacks.
