Campaign Finance, a Top Issue to Voters, Undiscussed in Fox GOP Debate

Homeland security, taxes, the size of government, campaign finance. Of these issues, the top four being mentioned on Facebook, only one was left undiscussed in last night’s Fox Business GOP presidential primary debate.

Americans care deeply about the level of money in our elections, which makes its omission last night deeply troubling. The debate focused on the economy and business, two areas where campaign finance reform would make a huge difference.

Fox moderators should have taken the time to address such an important issue.

Campaign finance reform is an issue that unites Americans of all ideologies. Eighty-four percent of respondents to a June New York Times/CBS News Poll answered that money has too much influence on our political campaigns — that’s 80 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats.

Procurement, contracting, lobbying — these are all factors that are intimately tied to business and ones where an imbalance of influence can shift the playing field away from the average American. Crony capitalism, a favorite conservative topic, came up briefly, but the moderators should have pressed the candidates on solutions to this and related issues.

Ignoring campaign finance belies the importance that reform has for so many Republicans specifically, and so many Americans across the political spectrum.