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Pesky thing called the First Amendment.
by tptacek 8mo ago
Pesky thing called the First Amendment.
- wyre 8mo agoCitizens United cough
- tptacek 8mo agoA case where the opposition claimed that under a correct reading of the Constitution they had the authority to ban books. I don't like lobbying and campaign finance either, but people shouldn't pretend these are simple or absurd arguments.
- vkou 8mo agoMoney is speech, and is sacred, but books with gay people in them aren't speech, and need to be carefully controlled.
- kubb 8mo agoThey really interpret the First to protect lobbying and campaign donations? I mean the Second as written also isn’t primarily about the right to pack heat, so it’s not that surprising.
- chimeracoder 8mo agoThe First Amendment does not explicitly mention campaign spending (or political campaigns at all), and until 2010, the First Amendment was not considered to apply to monetary spending in political campaigns. The right to petition the government is explicitly protected, but that doesn't apply in the case of IL-9, which was an open race and therefore none of the candidates were actually elected representatives.
- 8note 8mo agoEven still, this is money on how a private entity decides who its going to support for a future election. None of these people are even running for government yet. If the democratic party wanted to so something about it, they could, but the freedom of expression and association guarantees that a party that wants to have lots of money spent on ads an such can do it
- polothesecond 8mo agoIf donating money is free speech why don’t you try giving some to a group categorized as a terrorist organization
- Henchman21 8mo agoCitizens United is an abomination. Its the reason we're in dire straits at present. It "legalized" bribery.
- culi 8mo agoIf Mongolia pays a bunch of US citizens to vote for some candidate that promises to push the US towards militarily supporting Mongolia, do you think the First Amendment supports that? Or more accurately, imagine if the US had special rules and exceptions for dual citizens of Mongolia and the US that don't exist for any other country and then it allowed those dual citizens to push for certain candidates without having to be registered as a foreign lobby. Now try substituting Mongolia with Russia or China.