As the 2012 presidential primaries continue and the election approaches, campaign finance and super PACs are dominating the conversation. The Daily Orange conservative and liberal columnists take on the issue.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission opened the door for the current structure of campaign spending, most notably super PACs. This new campaign tool has been attacked for allowing people to give the amount they want to organizations that work on behalf of campaigns and for giving ‘big money’ too much influence.

The issue of ‘big money’ in campaigns is one the left has no standing to make. The left is fine with unions spending millions on their behalf. The New York Times reported in the 2008 elections that labor unions spent nearly $450 million. That’s about $200 million more than leading conservative super PAC American Crossroads plans to raise.

The left refuses to acknowledge groups supporting their causes like moveon.org and Media Matters for America, which have both received enormous gifts from wealthy individuals. Spending will be more balanced between groups on the left and right now.

When it comes to the issue of allowing people to donate what they wish to political causes they support, why should this not be allowed? Why shouldn’t free people be able to do what they want with their own resources, political or not? Of course, it’s not fair. Why not then branch out and limit the time someone can volunteer on a campaign, lest someone not have an equal amount of energy or enthusiasm for a candidate as others?

This isn’t an ideal system. It would be much better to have individuals donate what they may to campaigns and have those campaigns be responsible for who they take money from and what is done with that money.

Don’t let the left fool you into thinking this is new. Like most things, the left was for it before the right started doing a better job at it.

Patrick Mocete is senior political science and policy studies major. His column appears every Thursday. He can be reached at pdmocete@syr.edu.   

Published on February 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm