Electoral Finance Reform! That sounds like an oxymoron to me.

About 20 years ago, the Liberal Party of Canada made campaign donations from corporations illegal. They were not motivated by the goodness of their heart. The financial base was from wealthy individuals. Their arch-enemies, the Conservatives, were relying more on big business. The “new law” was mostly about crippling the enemy. When the dust settled, the Conservatives still got their funds from corporations, who paid the tickets to political fund raisers for their employees. Many such events were poorly attended, but the funds moved through in a legal way.

When I was in politics, the federal and provincial government used to subsidize the coffers of political parties, giving about $1.00 a vote. The idea was to minimize the influence of the wealthy, and Scandinavian governments fund their parties more fully in this way. The problem is that it is difficult for new parties to get started. They must first get the votes, but the votes need money.

As for an altruistic movement in the USA to upend the hegemony of the R’s and D’s, I haven’t heard of it. If they manage to start a new political party, they will start behaving like a political party — which includes a lot of internal dysfunction.

I think these people would be better to put their time into the TDG.

I’m just about ready to launch a new book about how Americans can build this TDG.

http://www.tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/dfp-chapter.php

It’s not that difficult. Much less time and frustration than building a new political party.