by Michael DeBow

About the author: Michael DeBow is a law professor at Samford University’s Cumberland Law School in Birmingham, Alabama.

The reform of campaign finance and lobbying is a perennial subject for Americans, particularly those of the “good government” persuasion. The reformers’ conventional wisdom on these issues laments the fact that American politicians solicit, and receive, large amounts of campaign contributions from individuals and organizations with vital interests at stake in the political arena. In the conventional wisdom, money is the root of almost all political evil. Most importantly, bad public policies are supported by Congressmen as a payback to their contributors. This baleful result is traced particularly to the activities of political action committees, or PACs.

Reformers’ Delusion

The reformers apparently think that, without the...