From Ryan Sager’s “Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee”:
Welcome behind the curtains of the campaign-finance reform movement, where ideologues plot to restrict the speech of their fellow citizens while reserving a special free-speech zone for themselves.
Sounds paranoid? A little over the top?
Consider a report just out from the folks over at Political Money Line, “Campaign Finance Reform Lobby: 1994 to 2004.” Ignored by the media to date, it details how the supposedly grass-roots campaign-finance reform movement has been funded over the last decade to the tune of $140 million. Of that $140 million, the vast majority ($123 million) came not from retirees scraping together their last nickels for the cause of democracy, nor from schoolchildren collecting deposits on cans plucked from dilapidated playgrounds.
No, the money came from just eight ultra-liberal foundations (including the Ford Foundation and George Soros’ Open Society Institute), the same folks who fund: the Earth Action Network, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the Naderite Public Citizen Foundation and the Feminist Majority Foundation.
That’s quite a lot of money sloshing around a movement dedicated to “getting the money out of politics.” Of course, the only place these people really want to keep the money out of is their conservative opponents’ campaign war chests and the war chests of the independent groups that support them. To the reformers, reform is not an end, it is a means to their pre-existing liberal goals.
For about eight years now I’ve been arguing that the progressivist left has been working to undermine free speech—first through the PC “tolerance” movement, then through targeted litigation, then within the academy, and finally through various “reform” movements that are in reality nothing more than cynical and calculated efforts to control “acceptable” political speech, and to carve out the legal means by which to do so (this impulse to limit speech is not exclusive to the left, of course; some on right have launched well-funded attempts to control acceptable “moral” speech—though in their defense, at least their motives seem sincere, if terribly misguided).
To this day, I cannot for the life of me understand how McCain-Feingold—which remains, for all its populist sanctimony, one of the most pernicious pieces of legislation ever passed (designed as it was to take advantage of an electorate’s natural mistrust of politicians)—can withstand Constitutional scrutiny. And Bush’s decision to sign the legislation into law is perhaps his single greatest failing as President.
Are blogs next? Who knows. But as Sager concludes, “Elected officials deciding who can and cannot criticize them—that should alarm every citizen of the United States.”
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update: Blogger online letter / petition to the F.E.C. here. More here.
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update 2: Reynolds offers his thoughts.
I for one welcome our new communication overlords. I’d like to remind them that as an infrequent blog commenter, I could be helpful in rounding up others for the re-education camps.
They have to be out of their freaking minds if they think they can possibly censor every single one of the over 2 million active weblogs. This is truly insane. It’s the same logic of attempting to tax emails-sorry, but logic alone says it can’t be done.
The worst part about the whole thing however, is the fact that the major news media is expectedly silent on the issue of censoring blogs.
What is so damn complicated about the first amendment anyways? You’d think it was written in welsh or something…..asshats…
turing word: Find- as in “these stupid ass politicians couldn’t find their ass with directions…
Consider me alarmed. I just hope I don’t go off in the middle of the night, because you know how annoying that can be.
I find it interesting that all the opponents of Campaign Finance Reform live blissfully in regions other than lobby-soaked Washington, DC.
I lived and worked there for more than a decade for a disintegrating Democratic Party, and you have no inkling how it all fall together.
McCain-Feingold was never perfect, but it raised a critical question which most conservatives ignore and bloviate over heedlessly and foolishishly.
Why do you think the rent on K Street in Washington is right through the roof? Why it’s because lobbyists have almost limitless bank accounts.
Bah, humbug. We conservatives have to start coming up with a better solution than Federalist 10 by Madison. We have to grow up for chrissakes and make this system work.
Conservatives are really falling down on this job and I watch them do it with grief.
whatever. Lobbying may be unseemly but you have to show me concrete evidence of politicians being bought off by lobbyists on a widespread scale before I’ll even consider taking away their rights to petition for what they want.
And what any of that has to do with curbing persuasive speech within a certain window inside an election season is likewise beyond me.
Make blustery statements about idiot conservatives all you want; but the answer to speech is more speech, not ill-considered attempts to control it.
What he said.
If we limit lobbyists, the next step would be to prevent citizens from even speaking to their Congressional Overlords (the difference being one of degree, not type).
Lobbyists are nothing more than the paid representative of a group of concerned citizens, who do the job because the citizens are too busy making a living.
You could even make an argument that lobbyists are permitted by the First Amendment clause “…and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Jeff,
How about Billy Tauzin for starters. Do a bit of research on him.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2094434/
Yeah, I know about Slate and its selective memory, but all the same Tauzin is a major pig at the lobbyist trough. He doesn’t stand for you or me or the troops at the front. He stands for himself and the game he’s perfected in Washington.
I’m sorry but I find the blogosphere to be willfully ignorant of the way things really work in DC in the real world. Why not bring in Bill Ardollino at this point to bring some local insight into Tauzin. And while we’re at it, Shumer and the whole damned state of New Jersey.
Jeff, you’ve never lived in DC, have you, or know its many intricacies?
I was born and raised in Maryland and spent many a night in Georgetown. But I was drinking enormous beers out of fishbowl-sized schooners, not following the K-streeters, listening to their tales of Constitutional debauchery.
Tauzin’s bolt was his decision. And I don’t see how it breaks any laws or speaks to anything involved with campaign finance reform. That a pharmaceudical company wanted to burnish its image by recruiting a prominent spokesman is hardly surprising or criminal; unless you’re suggesting that Tauzin’s former government role means he should be exempt from fielding offers in the private sector.
Tauzin screwed over his constituents. But lots of politicians do that—including one Senator who switched his party affiliation after being elected. Now THAT’s the kind of campaign fraud I’d be willing to look into.
BLT, that was a great bit of comedy.
aliaenor, everything you say is true nonetheless you could not be more wrong. The power of lobbying does nothing to justify McCain-Feingold. McCain-Feingold is not designed to stop lobbyists. Its designed to strengthen their hold.
Jeff, your initial post is well said. And there is truly only one serious response: we have work to do.
Oh come now. The motives of the progressives are perfectly pure: They don’t want unregulated speech to confuse the simple minds of us proles. They know what’s best for us and we should just shut up and listen to our betters!
Oh Lord, first I have Jeff amd then you, Robin. I love all youse guys who have never been there at the founding.
K Street needs to be taken dowm big time. I don’t care if McCain-Feingold does it or a different venue. What matters is that this horiffic fiction on the blogosphere that MCCain Republicans are nitwits – is purely false.
Frmer Congression Tauzin is my megababy on the how a poor boy from the Plaquemines can come a cropper as a regular power broker in the US.
Youse guys just never get it about the take down.
I’m from Baltimore, not Dundalk or Essex. Never used “youse guys.”
aliaenor,
I’m afraid of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I don’t think anyone is arguing the fact that lobbyists hold too much power in Washington. But McCain-Feingold has acheived ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MEANINGFUL in terms of preventing lobbyists from controlling elections.
And if taking down lobbyists means that blogs can’t be involved with political campaigns, you’re just gonna have to figure out some other way to do it tough guy.
aliaenor:
You can put your hands over your ears all you want and babble “I’m not listening! I’m not listening!” just like Gollum in LOTR. You haven’t paid any attention to Jeff’s thoughtful responses, so I cherish no fond hopes that you will extract your head from your anus long enough to pay attention to me.
Nevertheless, for those who are less dense and less recalcitrant, I can state what alienor cannot– John McCain is a senator from MY state. I don’t give a flying duck about your stupid K street, but I do care immensely about this turncoat senator from MY state. McCain Republicans? There are no such persons. There were at one time, but that is rapidly becoming ancient history.
Aliaenor obviously doesn’t know what the hell it’s talking about when it comes to McCain, but I DO. And I can state unequivocally that any misguided fool that calls itself a “McCain Republican” is indeed a nitwit.
So don’t give me any of your crap, Aliaenor; McCain is unfortunately MY state senator and not yours. If you want to talk about shady dealings with money for political agendas, McCain rules that roost.
No, aliaenor, it really is you who don’t get it. McCain-Feingold strengthens the lobbyists. Pure and simple.
This is the big pus-sy pimple on W’s ass. VETO! Helloooooooooooo?
Mebbe he thought it sincere, I dunno. But there’s no way this is going to be taken laying down by CITIZEN JOURNALISTS.
Sorry for leaving a dump on your thread here but this is pure bullshit.And fricken scary that it’s even being considered.
Great………post code: POLICE.
Being late Friday and all, I’m wondering what excuse the Armadillo will have for not opining.
Maybe the armadillo went home with Martha. Or maybe Martha went home with the armadillo. Watch for upcoming issue of Living with focus on Southwestern cuisine
Ask and ye shall receive…
Mr. Villon,
McCain won his last reelection in Arizona by a landslide. I understand that you don’t care for him, but an overwhelming majority of Arizonians do.
I didn’t expect a single comment supporting me and I’ve not been disappointed. I can only say that however flawed McCain-Feingold is as legislation, the problem – including pigs at the trough like Tauzin – is critical. Marching orders from Rush aren’t going to solve it.
But go on and lock that step. And here’s a sword you can fall on, too.
I think Jeff Goldstein is an intelligent man with whom I take issue on this point.
Now what part of the pillory do you want me to insert which body part into? I’ll oblige.
Jeff,
Equating political correctness with shutting down the Billy Tauzin pigs at the trough is a true mind-bender.
PC is totalitarianism. Milking the political system for personal gain is simple malfeasance. I don’t see how they are connected.
You and most of the rest of conservative blogs have gone after McCain like white on rice. And I really have to wonder why. McCain is on the right side of the issue even if his and Feingold’s legislation was flawed.
There is an elephant in the room. He is called a lobbyist and he is a pretty foul creature. So now what do we denizens of the room do? We smell McCain instead instead of Tauzin.
Oh my. How smart we conservatives aren’t.
Mr. Villon – Redux
Jeff has not in fact responded with thoughtful commentary.
I think he and the rest of you – however otherwise bright people – are losing this argument. It’s not about how handsome McCain is because he isn’t. It’s about whether he’s right about Big Pigs at the Trough.
They are there. Anyone who denies it is guess-what-a-total- nudnik. And here I insert a smile.
I don’t know what else to say to you. I’d be all for setting aside a time from each year in which lobbyists can make financial contributions to law makers, but other than that, what is your point?
McCain Feingold is an awful piece of legislation, the ramifications of which we are just now beginning to see, as lawmakers grapple with how they should police political speech on the internet.
The point of this post is that these reform movements are being championed by 8 large liberal organizations, and the reason they are doing so is because they hope to be able to control speech. Period.
I wish I could be like Aliaenor and win arguments that I’m not even participating in … with like some mutant super powers or something.
Well, Robin, you’re never going to do it with that kind of a riposte – filled with ad wominem and no meat.
Meanwhile, I see that Jeff and Bill Ardolino are off on a roll together and I wish them all the best.
http://www.indcjournal.com/
Robin, look, it’s just that if you’ve never experienced K Street, you’ll never know the abyss to which our system can sink. Plunging pins into a McCain doll is a not going to make it right. He is a nice guy, actually, and laid some real time on the line for our country once when he was young.
How can it be that otherwise intelligent and well-intentioned people have taken this McCain-Feingold-are-political-devils ride into blithering history?
I know the legislation they hammered together is not working while moonbats and wingnuts carry on about it something fierce rather than trying to fix the bloody problem that exists.
It’s like the swinging door of justice for recidivists. Our former solons just keep on coming up to the lobbyist feedbag. There they are for all to see who aren’t wearing blinders.
Just what do you think Tom Daschle is doing these days?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0201.mencimer.html
Supporting the missus, perhaps?
It’s a madhouse in DC. Let’s make it sane with or without McCain.