Trying to end corruption in the US, I'm starting to think, is what has brought American politics to its current low state. I think the worst political decision of the past few decades was the move to ban earmarks. Whatever negative things you can say about them, earmarks gave congresspeople a way to please their constituency without reference to some particular ideological test. They could always say: "Well sure, I didn't vote to ban abortion, but we did get a new agricultural research center." Without the ability to drive federal dollars to their districts in return for 'selling out' their parties ideology, a lot of congressmen have lost the ability to vote for anything at all. It's wrecked the committee systems, the budget process, everything.

Same deal with banning unlimited donations to candidates while allowing it to superpacs that technically aren't allowed to coordinate with the candidates. You haven't made candidates less beholden to big donors, you've just put the big donors totally in charge of the campaign, because their spending dwarfs the spending of the candidates themselves.