The Buckley Constitution and the Strong Libertarian Paradigm of American Politics

Ironically, the strong libertarian paradigm uses wealth to constrict autonomy in ways that have interesting political theory parallels with the Lochner case. Both approaches limit participation in the democratic process. Lochner removed certain questions from democratic decision-making altogether. By affording property interests overwhelming political influence, the strong libertarian paradigm connects influence to wealth more than to votes or preference intensities. Buckley v. Valeo upheld congressional limitations on contributions to political campaigns, but struck down limitations on a candidate’s personal and total campaign expenditures. The Court also invalidated limits on independent expenditures to elect particular candidates made by others, including PACs, that were not given directly to the campaign. Buckley specifically rejected the government’s interest in equalizing the financial resources of candidates. In his partial concurrence and partial dissent, Justice White stated that the majority stood for the proposition “money talks.”