Campaign finance reform has been useless in getting the stink out of politics because the odor has been coming from the voting booth all along, not special interest groups.

You want substantive politicians? Start with substantive voters. The reformers direct far too much hand wringing toward large campaign donations. It allows us to pass the blame for voter laziness onto money being in politics.

In 2000, former Vice President Al Gore insisted that voters would be more active in politics if campaign finance reform removed the “megaphone” of special interests, drowning them out. We’re told that it’s impossible for everyday citizens to break through the big money campaign ads that pollute the airwaves.

I say, forget about the ads. No one should base his or her sacred vote on the superficiality of TV ads anyway. People should base it on their own critical thinking and independent research.

We shouldn’t punish corporations and unions just because they’re up to that task and we’re not. Their deep pockets have extra money, not extra votes. Election day is the one-day when all of us, rich or poor, have an equal voice. That is when we break through the TV ads.

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, passed in 2002, banning soft money, has done literally nothing to stop the bloating of campaign bank accounts. President George Bush has increased his expenditures from the $193,866,253 he spent in 2000 to the $365,398,443 he has spent in this election so far. Sen. John Kerry has currently spent $333,700,295, compared to Al Gore’s $133,108,037 spent in 2000, according to Political Money Line, an extension of the Federal Elections Commission.

Campaign finance reform will never legislate away that citizens are basing their votes on sound bites. It has merely given rise to new sound bite-providers like 527 groups that go unregulated by the FEC, given they don’t “specifically” advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. Courtesy of the 527, like Move on.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, TV ads still dominate elections.

Admittedly, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) successfully kept Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc. from airing several of the vets’ accusations in a documentary on many of its 62 TV stations. But they still aired some of them. In the wake of this, public figures like Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, are already calling for Fairness Doctrine and stricter media ownership rules to be reinstated at the Federal Communications Commission. The deregulation/re-regulation cycle keeps spinning while voters get a free pass.

What angers me most is when those of us who actually do research and think deeply about politics, sellout during the primaries. Solid candidates are offered, but we choose the politically flaccid ones with heavy pockets. We’re too scared that the right person for the job won’t win. Our gutless voting gets us gutless politicians. Then we suck our thumbs and whine about money being in politics. Don’t buy into the myth that special interest groups are controlling democracy. We’re controlling democracy. We’re just doing a lousy job.