How does this proposal differ from the current U.S. presidential campaign finance system?
Miller: It differs in a very substantial way. It extends full public financing to the primary election. Right now, we have a system in which presidential candidates run around the country like players in some Monopoly game, collecting thousand dollar contributions from all manner of economic interests. And then the candidates are rewarded by collecting public money. A new system of full public financing would not allow the candidates to go out and obligate themselves to big business before they collected public money. They would raise a certain amount of $5 contributions, arguably an amount anyone could give, and then receive public money. From that point on, there would be no private money in the system at all. MM: How would you deal with the problem of soft money? Miller: There is a very simple way to stop it; and that is to prohibit that sort of money from going to the political parties. One proposal I have seen would actually reduce the amount that anyone could give to a political
