Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

January 25, 2010

Last week the Supreme Court struck down most of the so-called McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The ruling, which treated corporate contributions to political campaigns as a form of protected ?free speech,? triggered widespread outrage from people who insist that money is corrupting politics.

In a refrain echoed by many critics of the ruling, President Obama and the New York Times insisted that lifting restraints on corporate campaign donations represents the death of what they call our ?democracy.?

The Times hysterically pronounced that the ruling ?has paved the way for corporations to use their vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding.? This suggests that spending limits favor insurgent candidates over corrupt incumbents. But the McCain-Feingold law was designed to protect congressional incumbents, whose turnover rate is lower than that of the old Soviet Politburo.

Genuine political reform would severely limit what government can do, rather than what private citizens can spend in promoting their interests.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.