Campaign finance laws determine how much you’re allowed to give to a political candidate or party that you support. The limits placed on those contributions might seem unfair – how come you can’t give as much money as you want if you support a candidate? Candidates who get elected wield a lot of power: they write laws, hire companies for big government contracts, and make all sorts of decisions that affect your life and your business. When people give money to a campaign, they gain some influence over that candidate, who will tend to look favorably upon the desires of his biggest contributors because he wants to keep receiving their support.

If there were no limits to campaign contributions, certain people would have way more political power than others just because they have more money, which would undermine the very idea of democracy. Money gives people all sorts of additional power that people with less money don’t have and that is not necessarily a bad thing – money can create jobs or fund the arts or help lift people out of poverty. However, the political freedoms that make our vibrant, dynamic economy possible only exist because of our strong democracy which is based on the idea that all men (and women) are created equal. You only get one vote for a reason; campaign finance limits are just an extension of that same idea.