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92 Foreign Aff. 126 (2013)
In Defense of Citizens United: Why Campaign Finance Reform Threatens American Democracy

handle is hein.journals/fora92 and id is 962 raw text is: In Defense of Citizens United Why Campaign Finance Reform Threatens American Democracy Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane any Americans are troubled by the country's ongoing fiscal crisis, which is driven by endless annual budget deficits. These deficits are building up a mountain of gross national debt so large that it will eventually dwarf the country's GDP. Some place blame for this predicament on a suite of large entitlement programs that are inherently unsustainable. Others blame expensive wars abroad, paid for on the installment plan. And still others blame democracy itself, as a shortsighted public punishes representatives who try to bring tax and spending policies into balance. But they all miss the forest for the trees. The underlying cause of the U.S. fiscal crisis lies deeper-in political dysfunction that began when Congress moved to control campaign expenditures through the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) Of 1971. Much of the law was initially declared unconstitutional for vio- lating the First Amendment, but Congress revised it in 1974, and the revised law governed elections for the following three and a half decades. No longer were candidates free to raise unlimited donations, nor were citizens' groups free to express their political opinions. In short, organized political discussion and activity were left largely in the hands of the news media and the two leading political parties. GLENN HUBBARD is Dean of the Columbia Business School and served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under U.S. President George W. Bush. TIM KANE is Chief Economist at the Hudson Institute. They are the authors of Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America. 126 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

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