Mitt Romney is one of those who now oppose the McCain-Feingold campaign finance regulations, and the whole idea of same. His Townhall column of last month marshals his reasons.

The Washington Post, which has a firm policy of loving this sort of regulation Romney opposes, notes that Romney himself, when Massachusetts governor, had supported similar regulations in his state.

But the editorial doesn't really deal in evidence, study and argument. It's just assertion, and nothing more:

No doubt, the current campaign finance system is flawed; no doubt, some spending has been shifted into areas exempt from disclosure. But if Mr. Romney thinks the system was less corrupt when lawmakers were able to phone up special interests and ask them for seven-figure checks, he is wrong. If he thinks the system was less corrupt when corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals could spend unlimited amounts on campaign commercials barely disguised as issue advertising, he is wrong about that as well. Massachusetts Romney had it right.

Well, the simple fact that these regulations limit the freedom of citizens rich and poor indicates a strong reason to oppose such regulation. So what about corruption? There's an easier way to cut this back: term limits. Lobbyists hate term limits. The same lobbyists who invest in politicians really hate term limits. Why? Because those limits really put a crimp on the value of their investments. In an incumbency-heavy system, one can spend bribe money well, and rationally. You can rent politicians' time and ear for a long time, get a lot of ear-time, which is what they want most.

But with term limits in place, lobbyists have a higher degree of uncertainty, and get less bang for the buck.

And that's good for the corruption angle.

Of course, going the next step and limiting the purview of legislators, making them less target for lobbying, would be even better. But that would mean getting rid of most government, and America is probably not ready for that.

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