One very good argument against State funding of political parties is that it entrenches the current incumbents: further, that it allows the State to define who can be considered as a political party, even to ban some people from standing for election.
Yup, happening here in Portugal, right now.
And has happened in Belgium where they also banned *all* private funding of political parties.
This puts me in a difficult position because I don’t really want to go on record defending the party it was aimed at. But somehow I think banning the quasi-neo-Fascist Vlams Belang in this way is still wrong.
No doubt it is coming to Britain soon.