Unavoidable now because of the Citizens United court decision. Of course it's bad, but what are you gonna do?
(Also, despite that I am not much of a fan of the UK political system, I do like that it has extremely low limits on election spending).
If you believe this is wrong, that is.
The Supreme Court has decided that Congress isn’t allowed to regulate this kind of behavior. The Court has also chipped away at bribery statutes, narrowing them significantly.
Unfortunately, without a constitutional amendment, new justices on the Supreme Court, or a revolution, there’s not a lot that can be done. I support an amendment, but with the current court it’s… we have a long way to go.
Ah never mind, we all know they can’t help it.
They often lose to the politicians that do take the donations. Because they don’t have the money necessary to compete in the election.
So, there’s a survivorship bias. Elected politicians are much more likely to be taking those donations. That’s why the system is so problematic. It drives out honest and honorable politicians, and rewards corrupt ones, which further reinforces the idea that all politicians are corrupt. They’re not, but under this system most elected politicians are.