Campaign Finance Reform

The "Status Quo", The "Legalese" 
and the Evaluation of Its Fairness

It's a fact: elections cost money. All of those TV ads. The salaries of election workers and "staffers". The cost of a plane flight from one city to another. All of those postcards in your mailbox? Yep. That all costs money.

But where does that money come from? Not the candidate! He can't fund his own election! That'd be corrupt. It comes from donors like you, me, and a buncha other sources. If you give to a candidate, he's going to use that money in the best ways possible, so yes, your $100 makes a difference.

But what about someone else's $1,000? Or an interest group's $1.5 million? Is that fair? Can they buy elections? That's a dangerous thought...

For this activity, you'll be tasked with synthesizing the humor of satirical headlines with the "stories behind the stories". Ever wonder why something's funny? It's because you don't know the fact behind the story, and perhaps, the irony of the statement. So we'll address that here. 

First, you'll need some data. Here's some information on money and politics from Election 2012:

• Click here to access the Washington Post's recap of spending in Election 2012. 
  
• Click here to access the New York Times's recap of PACs and "Super PACs". 
  

...but you'll need more than that. Here are some more sites:

• Click here for a story about Third Parties and the FEC.
• Click here for the state of American democracy. We already read this article, back in August, but it might help!

Wanna read more about The Onion's stories? Click on the images below:

Remember, you are proving to me why the headline is funny with evidence from WashPost, The New York Times and those other sites!