McCain-Feingold is Still a Failure
McCain-Feingold Still a Failure, Five Years and Counting
Washington - McCain-Feingold turned five years old today, and the political process is not one iota better than it was before John McCain launched his crusade on the political stage. In honor of its five-year anniversary, the Club for Growth denounced the McCain-Feingold legislation as an unconscionable abridgement of the First Amendment right to political free speech, conjuring up the likes of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.
John McCain has defended his trampling of the First Amendment as a small price to pay for cleaning up the political process and restoring America’s faith in government. This defense is as frightening today as it was five years ago. It is also patently wrong.
“If the past five years were an experiment in government regulation of political speech, we can clearly say now that the experiment has been a dismal failure,” Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said. “Five years after President Bush signed the McCain-Feingold legislation, the political process is neither less corrupt nor more democratic. The only definitive results of McCain Feingold are that incumbent politicians sleep a little more soundly at night and citizen participation in the political process is even further restricted. Neither or these developments are something to boast about.”
“It is our sincere hope that in five years time, McCain-Feingold will be nothing more than a blemish on the history books,” Mr. Toomey continued. “Already, several declared and potential presidential candidates have come forward to express either their strong opposition to McCain-Feingold or their support for its repeal. These are former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. We strongly encourage Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thompson, all other Republican candidates, and the entire slate of Democratic candidates to come forward soon with similar proclamations.”
