Finance Reform Bill Jeopardizes Free Speech |
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| Media Link - USA Today | ||||
| Wednesday, 14 November 2007 10:28 | ||||
It looks, at the moment, as if the McCain-Feingold ban on "soft money" to campaigns will become law. To most Americans this probably represents a good thing. Who could be against "campaign finance reform?" After all, to oppose the bill would be like being against a cure for cancer, right? Wrong. Sadly, only a society filled with public-school trained, non- thinkers could reach such a conclusion. Why are we too dense to see it? Banning money from campaigns means banning speech. How so? Most of us are either unable or unwilling to run for office. Consequently, we want to communicate our support for certain candidates -- and opposition to others -- through the money we give to a campaign. If we give money to a campaign, we help it thrive. If we refuse to give money to a campaign -- or if we give money to its opponent -- we harm it. This is how we communicate in a representative democracy. The extent to which we ban money from campaigns is the extent to which we ban our own ability to express ourselves. The issue is deeper than a mere popularity contest. It's about the ideas we support. A free society cannot survive without the free expression of ideas. Many will counter-argue that bribery and corruption are wrong -- and that's true. But you don't end bribery and corruption by banning contributions to campaigns. Instead, step up prosecution against bribery and corruption. Also, we should restrict political involvement in business by eliminating or reducing taxation, regulation and corporate subsidies. I believe the incentive for bribery and corruption essentially would disappear. You can't bribe politicians if you take away the powers they should not have in the first place.
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