Bill Bennett: “the subject of today's debate is ostensibly campaign finance reform. It is currently fashionable to say that all of our…”

“the subject of today's debate is ostensibly campaign finance reform. It is currently fashionable to say that all of our ills as a nation are caused by incompetent officeholders--or worse, politicians who have been bought by special interests through the process of campaign contributions. So we are gathering to debate a bill that is supposed to fix that. Who can possibly be in favor of a system like that? To some, this should be an easy vote. Destroy the status quo. Anything would be better. So I am in favor of destroying the status quo, Mr. President, but I reject the idea that anything will be better, and particularly the bill that is before us. I believe there is at stake here an issue that is far more fundamental than campaign finance reform. Perhaps without realizing it, we are dealing with the most crucial political questions that any society can confront, issues that were confronted and resolved by those that we now refer to as the Founding Fathers.”