«There is no politics without money, but money in excess can erode democratic politics. Political parties—without which democracy cannot exist in modern times—need financing to maintain their organizational structures (small or large), to wage electoral campaigns, to train their active members and sympathizers, to conduct research and education, and to disseminate and publicize their ideas and proposals, to appear in the major media outlets, and to pay their professional staffers. In summary, money is essential for carrying out a series of tasks essential to their very existence. Every country with political pluralism has attempted to adopt some type of regulation of political financing. At the same time, one gets the impression that this is still a pending matter, for the distance between the laws and regulations and the reality in campaign finance tends to be particularly tension-ridden and complicated.»«The Cost of Democracy Essays on Political Finance in Latin America»
«There is no politics without money, but money in excess can erode democratic politics. Political parties—without which democracy cannot exist in modern times—need financing to maintain their organizational structures (small or large), to wage electoral campaigns, to train their active members and sympathizers, to conduct research and education, and to disseminate and publicize their ideas and proposals, to appear in the major media outlets, and to pay their professional staffers. In summary, money is essential for carrying out a series of tasks essential to their very existence. Every country with political pluralism has attempted to adopt some type of regulation of political financing. At the same time, one gets the impression that this is still a pending matter, for the distance between the laws and regulations and the reality in campaign finance tends to be particularly tension-ridden and complicated.»
