Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., takes issue with The Examiner’s editorial criticism of the McCain-Feingold bill and its “ban” on certain broadcast ads. The indignant senator responds that the law “doesn’t ban or censor any speech.”
Feingold’s position is disingenuous. For just a few sentences after telling us the law “doesn’t ban or censor any speech,” he tells us that McCain-Feingold was necessary to prevent some voices from being “drowned out” by others. As McCain-Feingold does nothing to affirmatively create or encourage speech — it offers no subsidies or platform for political speech — the only way it can prevent anyone’s voice from being “drowned out” is through the suppression of other speech — and that is indeed what McCain-Feingold does, as the senator must know.
It is true, as the senator notes, that an organization can still use a political action committee to run ads critical of members of Congress. Of course, most citizens groups — including many large ones, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Bar Association — do not have PACs.
Even when organizations have PACs, they are a poor substitute for direct political speech. PACs are subject to a great deal of regulation, including limitations on who may be solicited for contributions. As a result, most PACs lack the funds to run serious broadcast campaigns.
Read the whole thing
No comments:
Post a Comment