Bill Bennett: “I agree, this is bipartisan. Two, must lessen the amount of money overall in politics--if the experts that have…”

“I agree, this is bipartisan. Two, must lessen the amount of money overall in politics--if the experts that have testified before our committee are correct, and I believe they are, in a free society that is simply an impossible goal. You can disclose it, and I think we should; you should shine as much light, sunshine, exposure as you can, and I think we should. You should do things about getting people better informed of what is going on, and I think we should. I am perfectly willing to talk about amending the current laws to go in that direction. But you should not kid yourself that in a free society, somehow Government can control the total amount of money people want to spend in political advocacy. So we come to the third principle, laid down by the Senator from Arizona, that there must be a meaningful campaign finance reform, which is we must level the playing field between challenger and incumbent. We must help the challenger. I have already made the point, and will make it again, that the best way you can help the challenger in the field of money is to allow the challenger to raise more money than the incumbent.”