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Opinion of Thomas, J.
corruption in Buckley for purposes of reviewing ceilings on giving or spending by individuals, groups, political committees, and candidates. See id., at 23, 35, 39. But we did not in that case consider the First Amendment status of FECA's provisions dealing with political parties. See id., at 58, n. 66, 59, n. 67.
As applied in the specific context of campaign funding by
political parties, the anticorruption rationale loses its force. See Nahra, Political Parties and the Campaign Finance Laws: Dilemmas, Concerns and Opportunities, 56 Ford. L. Rev. 53, 105-106 (1987). What could it mean for a party to "corrupt" its candidate or to exercise "coercive" influence over him? The very aim of a political party is to influence its candidate's stance on issues and, if the candidate takes office or is reelected, his votes. When political parties achieve that aim, that achievement does not, in my view, constitute "a subversion of the political process." Federal Election Comm'n v. NCPAC, 470 U. S., at 497. For instance, if the Democratic Party spends large sums of money in support of a candidate who wins, takes office, and then implements the Party's platform, that is not corruption; that is successful advocacy of ideas in the political marketplace and representative government in a party system. To borrow a phrase from Federal Election Comm'n v. NCPAC: "The fact that candidates and elected officials may alter or reaffirm their own positions on issues in response to political messages paid for by [political groups] can hardly be called corruption, for one of the essential features of democracy is the presentation to the electorate of varying points of view." Id., at 498. Cf. Federal Election Comm'n v. MCFL, 479 U. S., at 263 (suggesting that "[v]oluntary political associations do not . . . present the specter of corruption").
The structure of political parties is such that the theoretical danger of those groups actually engaging in quid pro quos with candidates is significantly less than the threat of individuals or other groups doing so. See Nahra, supra, at
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