Playing Around with the 1st Amendment
Certain members of Congress are shameless at how they treat the 1st Amendment. From The Hill:
Senate Democrats are considering placing curbs on soft-money 527 groups amid evidence that they are beginning to lose the political advantage these largely unregulated funds have given them over Republicans.
This is a move Democrats had strenuously opposed during the last Congress, when they were believed to benefit from the lion’s share of 527 money, but now there is evidence that more of the money from these groups, named for a clause in the tax code, is flowing to the GOP.
Let's back up for a second. Back in 2002, most of the Democrats and a minority of Republicans voted for McCain-Feingold, giving political free speech rights its biggest wound ever. Republicans who voted NO correctly denounced the bill as unconstitutional.
Then, fast forward to 2006. Seeing that Democrats had a sizeable advantage in funding 527 groups, Republicans changed course and proposed even stronger restrictions on free speech with their "527 Reform" bill. There were 176 House Republicans who voted NO on McCain-Feingold, but four short years later, there were 211 who voted YES on the 527 bill. Of course, the Democrats flip-flopped as well. They supported McCain-Feingold, but trashed the 527 bill.
Now...in what seems like a political hokey-pokey dance, legs that were once in are now out. The Democrats will seek stronger restrictions on speech, while presumably, the Republicans will go back to fighting against them.
The arrogance is unbelievable.
