Should the qualifications for candidates running for public office be changed?
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Should the qualifications for candidates running for public office be changed?
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The answer is yes. The question, however, should not be whether to change them or how they are currently set up. Rather, it’s a matter of what kind of changes we want and why those changes would make our democracy better.
In my view, there are two major problems with current campaign finance laws: They allow wealthy individuals and corporations to buy elections; and they do so in ways that undermine democratic principles like transparency and accountability. These flaws have led to an electoral system where money buys access rather than votes — which has been shown time and again to lead to bad policy outcomes.
We need to fix these problems by changing who can contribute to campaigns and how much they can give. But before doing this, let me explain why I think the existing rules work against good government.