[geekWithA.45]

Washington Post Article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6500-2003May2.html)


:neener: :neener: :neener:

[Mike Irwin]

Saw that.

The Federal Court essentially gutted it.

It still has to be killed by the Supreme Court, though.

[Hkmp5sd]

Duplicate thread. See http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20988

[vmi93]

Am I a bad person because I opened this thread hoping to read about a plane crash?

:evil:

[atek3]

good one vmi :)

[ravinraven]

I'm not overly bright, but even I knew this mess, McCain-Fiengold, is in direct violation of the first amendment. What does it say about people who should know this fact better than I do that they try to shove Mc-F down our throats? Anyone who is against any provision of the bill of rights is anti-liberty. How did McCain get to be anti-liberty. He spent several horrifying years a victim of an anti-liberty government. How can our congress pass such an abomination and then trumpet liberty as a reason for trouncing Iraq?

If I were to guess, I'd say that the congress really doesn't want campaign finance reform. By passing this mess and getting it squashed by the courts they can say, "We tried," and go back to business as usual.

Perhaps a better "reform" idea would be to allow anyone to get any cash they wanted from any source foreign or domestic. The only stipulation would be that every dime would have to be listed and made a part of the public record. This record could be placed on a web site for all people to study. Each candidate would have every dime they ever received posted for all time. Anyone who covered any dime up would be booted out of the election never to run for public office again.

Then I have an even better idea. Instead of having an election, have the various candidates for an office walk slowly across a stage. In the theater are several hundred marksmen with high-powered rifles. Those who get across the stage are automatically in office. No. no. no. Just joking!

ravinraven

[Joe Gunns]

How did McCain get to be anti-freedom?

He personally experienced the disparity of campaign funding during his attempt at the presidency. Cognitive dissonance being what it is, he couldn't accept that fact that his failure to raise sufficiently large amounts of money had something to do with him, but rather saw it as the result of the inequitable, and anti-democratic influences of wealth and special interest. Such evil influences had to be controlled for the good of the Republic. It is common in reform politics that limited repression is seen as a positive good. The reasoning goes something like this, "Since I am a good person who loves my freedom, I am not a threat to the liberty of others. My proposal merely provides a reasonable balance to the excesses of unprincipled people who place their own interests above that of the general good." Self-interest is made to appear as altruism.

Incidentally, it should not be surprizing that McCain pushed this tack. Seems to me that it is consistent with his basic persona, if not with his all-American, heroic pow-vet image. That's why some folks didn't support him in the first place.

Pax Americana,
Joe

[ravinraven]

Good morning, Joe Gunn,

I think your analysis of McC is about right. I was worried about him way back when he started the presidential trip when a far-too-left democrat acquaintence of mine said that he would vote for him if he ran. "TILT" "TILT" Red flares and sirens!

This yowl against so-called greed and self-interest is a phony squawk for the reason that self-interest is what motivates all but about 0.0001% of human beings. Ou system of liberty and the resulting economic system takes advantage of that human condition. That's why we do so well as a nation that 1] everyone in the world has their hand out for part of our success, and 2] everyone in the world hates us. Ain't that a blast?

On another, but related note: Don't these far left weinies remind you of a bacteria that invades a body and finally destroys it without it ever dawning on them that they are destroying themeselves in the process?

rr

[Marko Kloos]

The McCain-Feingold "Campaign Finance Reform Act" should have been called the "Incumbent Protection Act", to more accurately reflect its true purpose.

[Black Dragon]

What the heck do you put into a ruling that comes out as 1,600 pages? :confused:
50,000 pages of transcripts? No wonder it is so hard to figure out what is going on with Court system.

[foghornl]

I remember watching some of the debate just before and during the House vote. One of the Reps from PA said "...I know this is unconstitutional, but..." and then voted yes. (Sorry, it was very late, and I don't remember who the PA rep was.)

So, If you KNOW it is unconstitutional, WHY IN THE CORNBREAD **** DID YOU VOTE FOR IT? ? ? ?

///screaming maniacal rant-mode off

[Partisan Ranger]

I'm also delighted that this anti-American, unconstitutional nonsense has been gutted.

It's very worrisome to me, however, that our Congress would even DREAM of trying to foist this :barf: on Americans. I mean, I thought 'Congress shall make no law' was pretty freaking clear language? How on earth can anyone say that forbidding certain groups from speaking before an election ISN'T a direct violation of the 1st Amendment?

If Congress dreamed this up, what else have they got planned for us down the road?

[Battler]

Unfortunately, it'll probably be back, ultimately, worse.

Why?

All of the campaign finance laws are violations of the 1st amendment.

This one just happened to be too much at once - a more gradual incremental step will be needed.

You accept that the selector of candidates is the voter, or you do not. If they cannot be trusted in the face of someone speaking for/against a candidate why bother have them vote at all? Merely have those who determine what we are allowed to see on campaign commercials merely pick the candidates themselves.

This is how you get dictators. When you figure out that voters have no business deciding for themselves to a sufficient degree that you just take out the troublesome step of even bothering with elections.

Battler