By Mark Garrison
Libertarian critics object to many campaign finance regulations on free speech and privacy grounds. They point out that people may have good reasons to want to give anonymously, such as fear of harassment tied to their political views. There’s a fear that excessive regulations hinder political participation.
“It’s a bad thing to get carried away and make it hard for people to engage in political speech,” says Bradley Smith, a former Federal Election Commission chair and founder of the Center for Competitive Politics, a group that’s broadly skeptical of campaign finance regulations.
