Philosophy
Getting elected means getting your message out and that means advertising. Advertising means money and that means donations. In the decision Buckley v. Valeo, the Court asserted that money was speech, political speech is protected by the First Amendment and therefore, so are campaign contributions.
But, the line for campaign finance reform goes, money is not speech, but the ability to drown out other voices. If you have enough, you keep those who have less from being heard. Money is not the speech itself, it is the access to a bigger megaphone and that works fundamentally against the reason we have free speech, that in a free marketplace of ideas the best idea tends to win. Campaign finance reform is needed to level the playing field and let a wider variety of voices be heard to serve democracy.
But, in the last election, Barack Obama raised a half a billion dollars online from small donors. Suddenly, the small fish have banded together giving them the monetary pull of the bigger fish. Does this eliminate the need for campaign finance reform? Was this last election singular or is there something systemic that has been challenged? Do the central premises of the argument still hold up?
- Political Correctness Goes Invisible
Nietzsche said that when a political movement triumphs completely, it becomes invisible. Having power, he argues, allows you to shape the lens through which we understand the world and we see through the lens, we don't see the lens. I was listening...
- Whose Speech Act Is This?
The notion of an utterance seems simple enough. I have a thought I want to express. I select words and a tone in which to express it. I say those words in that way. But what if the words aren't yours, but you still say them? Quoting someone else still...
- Imus And Freedom Of Speech
There's a new webforum that just started called the Citizens' Symposium. The idea is to take a topic and ask a couple of bloggers from different points of view to write a short essay and respond to the others, then throw it open to general discussion....
- Lawrence Lessig - We The People, And The Republic We Must Reclaim
The grand Enlightenment experiment in political self-rule and representative democracy that the United States was supposed to embody was dealt a potentially fatal blow some years ago with the Citizens United decision. Despite the rhetoric about free speech...
- American Chemistry Council Fights A Proposed Seattle Plastic Bag Fee
Why is the American Chemistry Council against this proposal? Granted, twenty cents is a bit steep but surely a compromise can be established. "American Chemistry Council gives $500,000 to stop bag fee" The American Chemistry Council's latest contribution...
Philosophy
Is Campaign Finance Reform Dead? Should It Be?
Getting elected means getting your message out and that means advertising. Advertising means money and that means donations. In the decision Buckley v. Valeo, the Court asserted that money was speech, political speech is protected by the First Amendment and therefore, so are campaign contributions.
But, the line for campaign finance reform goes, money is not speech, but the ability to drown out other voices. If you have enough, you keep those who have less from being heard. Money is not the speech itself, it is the access to a bigger megaphone and that works fundamentally against the reason we have free speech, that in a free marketplace of ideas the best idea tends to win. Campaign finance reform is needed to level the playing field and let a wider variety of voices be heard to serve democracy.
But, in the last election, Barack Obama raised a half a billion dollars online from small donors. Suddenly, the small fish have banded together giving them the monetary pull of the bigger fish. Does this eliminate the need for campaign finance reform? Was this last election singular or is there something systemic that has been challenged? Do the central premises of the argument still hold up?
- Political Correctness Goes Invisible
Nietzsche said that when a political movement triumphs completely, it becomes invisible. Having power, he argues, allows you to shape the lens through which we understand the world and we see through the lens, we don't see the lens. I was listening...
- Whose Speech Act Is This?
The notion of an utterance seems simple enough. I have a thought I want to express. I select words and a tone in which to express it. I say those words in that way. But what if the words aren't yours, but you still say them? Quoting someone else still...
- Imus And Freedom Of Speech
There's a new webforum that just started called the Citizens' Symposium. The idea is to take a topic and ask a couple of bloggers from different points of view to write a short essay and respond to the others, then throw it open to general discussion....
- Lawrence Lessig - We The People, And The Republic We Must Reclaim
The grand Enlightenment experiment in political self-rule and representative democracy that the United States was supposed to embody was dealt a potentially fatal blow some years ago with the Citizens United decision. Despite the rhetoric about free speech...
- American Chemistry Council Fights A Proposed Seattle Plastic Bag Fee
Why is the American Chemistry Council against this proposal? Granted, twenty cents is a bit steep but surely a compromise can be established. "American Chemistry Council gives $500,000 to stop bag fee" The American Chemistry Council's latest contribution...