The Forum, a political science journal published by Cal-Berkeley, just published an interesting article by Michael J. Malbin, executive director of The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI), titled "Rethinking the Campaign Finance Agenda."  The journal published Malbin’s article as part of their special issue entitled "Has the U.S. Campaign Finance System Collapsed."  In an email, Malbin wrote that the premise of the article stems from CFI’s Project on Participation: Strengthening Democracy through Volunteers and Small Donors. 

In the article Malbin argues that the focus of campaign finance laws should shift from attempting to check corruption by limiting contributions and certain expenditures to a more positive agenda of promoting competition and candidate emergence. He makes the case that limits have limits, and that CFI’s ongoing research on the promotion of equality through small donors and volunteers shows promise. It’s worth a read, even a skeptical one.