New National Review Online piece: Campaign-Finance Fail

My newest piece this last week starts this way:

In Monday’s 5–4 decision in McComish v. Bennett, the Supreme Court struck down Arizona’s taxpayer funding for political campaigns. Surprisingly, the dissenting opinion by liberals on the Supreme Court conceded that traditional campaign-finance laws have failed. Speaking for the other liberal justices, Elena Kagan wrote:

[Campaign-finance laws] cap campaign contributions; require disclosure of substantial donations; and create an optional public financing program that gives candidates a fixed public subsidy if they refrain from private fundraising. But these measures do not work. . . . Simple disclosure fails to prevent shady dealing. . . . the State remains afflicted with corruption.

This concession is important because, despite the many obvious problems created by campaign-finance regulations, supporters have long justified them as eliminating corruption, or at least the appearance of corruption. . . .