The Wealth Primary describes the race for money required for electoral politics. Before parties choose nominees and voters decide who gets their vote, before Americans begin to think about an upcoming election, candidates enter this most important part of the electoral process.

The contemporary issue of money in politics has been determined in whole by the 1976 Supreme Court decision, Buckley v. Valejo that basically held that "money equals speech."

The wealth primary is said to conflict with the democratic vision of a first amendment protection of political speech because money can be used to drown out your opponent and the fourteenth amendment of equal protection, which includes the protection of voters to seek and vote for their candidate of their choice.

In 1994, John Bonifaz and Jamin Raskin authored a booklet discussing the equal protection rights of non-wealthy candidates and more importantly, the rights of citizens who might wish to hear from and possibly vote for, these candidate who represent interests that may not have huge pots of money to amplify their speech. John C. Bonifaz is a Boston-based attorney specializing in constitutional law and voting rights. ...

References

The Wealth Primary - campaign fundraising and the constitution - Jamin B. Raskin and John Bonifaz - 1994 Center for Responsive Politics - ISBN 0-939714-21-X The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and the effect of money on elections and public policy. ...

External links

• The Wealth primary