Campaign Finance Reform is wrong vehicle for countering political ads by MoveOn.Org and similar organizations.

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Mar. 10, 2004 : Poli Sat.Com's Political Satire/ Commentary* Daily Update # 01·· ™©·2004·(Home)·
*Where the satire is always commentary, but the commentary isn't always satire (but you'll know the difference)·
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Campaign Finance Reform is wrong vehicle for countering political ads by MoveOn.Org and similar organizations.·

A controversy is arising about whether MoveOn.Org and similar organizations with whose political philosophy I strenuously disagree are violating the Campaign Finance "Reforms," which I find more objectionable than tolerating the objectionable propaganda by those organizations. Although one cannot out-stink a skunk, one can at least draw attention to the source of the odor and apply the counter-scent of a deodorizer. That's why sensible drivers almost risk life and limb to avoid running over a skunk because doing so makes the odor even worse. The solution to the odor of the political agenda of MoveOn.Org and like-thinking organizations and activists is not to engage in the futile, and counterproductive, effort to "run-over" it with the infamous McCain/Feingold Sedan; rather, the solution is to apply the counter-scent of a deodorizer. What's the deodorizer? Superior marketing of superior ideas and superior marketing of explanations of why their ideas are so bad.

That many otherwise sensible people supported (and still support) McCain/Feingold is ample testimony to the capacity of smart people to advocate stupid ideas. (I realize people can be stupid but not ideas, but please forgive the lapse.) Paradoxically, the wrong-headedness of McCain/Feingold is not always self-evident to even those who risked life and limb to protect freedom including the freedom of speech despite the fact that the fundamental concept of McCain/Feingold is at war with freedom of speech.

Even genuine war heroes, such as John Kerry and John McCain (to pick but two of many politically prominent examples), who have the right instinct and sufficient courage to confront the dangers and challenges of combat, sometimes exhibit a lack of comparable qualifications for political leadership. Their well-intentioned but wrong-headed support for the McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance "Reform" is a manifestation of the fact that genuine war heroes, just like ordinary mortals, sometimes propose, support or advocate terrible ideas. Bush's having signed, rather than vetoing, McCain/Feingold is likewise a manifestation of the fact that leaders with strategically brilliant vision on some issues (such as combating terror) can be equally wrong-headed on other issues.

I yield to no one in distaste for most of, if not almost all of, the political agendas promoted by MoveOn.Org and like-minded organizations, groups and individuals, but I also yield to no one in stubbornly retaining the opinion that McCain/Feingold is patently unconstitutional-- notwithstanding the recent but thankfully less-than-definitive pronouncement on the subject by the U.S. Supreme Court ostensibly (and wrongly) bestowing the mantle of "constitutionality" on it. If I were to have sufficient funds to express my views in flagrant violation of McCain/Feingold, I would surely do so in the hope that at some point the Supreme Court will, in a properly framed case, come to grips with the reality that McCain/Feingold is nothing more than an attempt to ration political speech in flagrant violation of our First Amendment rights of Free Speech. What part of "the government shall make no law" do they not understand in the context of political speech, the lifeblood of a democratic republic?.

Braking for Skunks·

Though skunks on the roads in the land
spread odors too pungent to "stand,"
a driver who's wise
risks danger to drive
around such a skunk if he can.

And likewise, when odors command
political roads in the land,
the tactic most dumb
is "aim for the skunk"
in Campaign-Reformer Sedans.

To Dubya from PoliSat-Com:
Do NOT drive McCain/Feingold's "car"
at skunks in your way!
Throw bait to convey
the scent that they favor, by far.

To counter the scent of MoveOn
and odors by which they're adorned,
my bait is French cheese
so folks can perceive
the scent most preferred by MoveOn.

Those who would attempt to combat the agenda-promotion methodology of MoveOn.Org by seeking its classification as "illegal" or as a "violation" of McCain/Feingold would merely yield the free-speech high-ground to the skunk. Instead, such opponents should counter such propaganda by better speech funded by equally committed individuals regardless of how little, or how much, they contribute and regardless of how poor or rich they may be. I certainly strenuously disagree with the political agenda George Soros is funding with his great wealth, but I think that to attempt to characterize his doing so (or comparable activity some other equally wealthy person to support and promote an opposing political agenda) as "illegal" is simply unconstitutional.

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, a citizen ought not need to consult a lawyer to know whether expending his resources to support political speech with which he agrees (or oppose speech with which he disagrees) would be "legal" or a "violation" of limits on free speech enacted by the Federal Government in violation of the First Amendment. James Madison would roll-over in his grave at the thought of it being necessary in modern America for citizens to seek permission of lawyers to engage in political speech.

I hope opponents of the political agendas being promoted by Soros, MoveOn, etc. will take the higher free-speech ground by combating bad ideas with better ideas. I just hope there are opponents of Soros' political agendas with sufficient funds and guts to outspend him between now and November, 2004.

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