It’s Not About Trusting Special Interests; It’s About Not Trusting the Government
Ed Achorn puts the recent campaign-finance ruling from the Supreme Court in precisely the right light:
The problem (as the Founders well understood) is that there is no safe way for Congress to parcel out a “fair” amount of speech to the people who “deserve” it most. When they overleap constitutional bounds and seize such power, politicians invariably favor their own free-speech rights, while limiting the rights of those who might criticize them (which is precisely what McCain-Feingold did).
Politicians like to control the message. They do not want others to challenge them or cast doubt on their utopian schemes.
Politics is dirty, and democracy is messy. Passing laws that deny reality does not make the reality go away; it makes it possible for self-interest to corrupt the process.
Do I hear an Amem out there!
Rights for immortal corporate “people”? That sound you hear is Jefferson spinning in his grave.