First we need to under stand what "soft money" is. "Soft money" is an unregulated and unlimited contribution to political parties and campaigns (Kohlberg 1). The parties and the candidates are constantly asking big corporations and business for contributions to their campaigns. Executives are becoming tired of constant appeals for "soft money" funds that may not even serve their interests (Borrus 34). "Soft money" has risen twenty- five percent in the past four years. "Soft money' is a travesty," gripes Robert Stuart, the former chairmen or Quaker Oats (35). Business Week took a poll from 400 top executives of the major contributors to campaigns. Of those 400 two thirds wanted to put a stop to "soft money" contributions. Some say that "soft money" is going to bankrupt our democrac

Now we have to take a look at what our government is doing to aid or revoke the reform. In 1907 Congress passed the Tillman Act. The Tillman Act prohibited corporations and national banks from contribution money to federal campaigns (presidential and congressional) (Janger 26). Also congress has put restrictions that only one thousand dollars can be given to a candidate, a given indivdual can give only twenty thousand dollars to a given party. In 1976 the Supreme Court heard Buckley v. Valeo. The out come was the ban of all limits on political spending. The court ruled that donations were a form of free speech. Congress tried to solve the finance problem in a three-step movement. First, they stated the fact that for "real reform" there would have to be a constitutional amendment or reform would be virtually impossible. Next, Congress conducted a half-hearted campaign to amend the constitution. The final step was the defeat. The amendment was defeated soundly they were twenty- nine votes short of two- thirds majority (Rosenkranz 16). The Amendment was directed at overturning "Buckley v. Valeo." Most republicans favored the Doolittle bill. The Bills says the answer is disclosure of contributions and nothing more. The Republicans tried to confuse the voters with alternative "reforms."

The way around the political bans on contributions is to join a PAC. Political Action committees (PAC's) are political organizations through which special interest groups contribute money to campaigns. There are over four thousand PACs (Janger 27). In 1974 Congress limited the amount of money that a PAC could give. The politic

Some topics in this essay:
PACs Janger, Newt Gingrich, Buckley Valeo, , Business Week, Tillman Act, Political Action, soft money, campaign reform, thousand dollars, reform project, campaign reform project, Robert Stuart, Quaker Oats, Supreme Court, soft money contributions, stop soft, yes money, money politics, kohlberg 1, buckley valeo, five thousand dollars, stop soft money, pac political action, tillman act,