Wendy is right. Money should not be speech; we should have person-speak, not money-speak or money-quack. Big money undermines and then kills democracy.
Alas, the ACLU is on the side of money=speech, perhaps their worst position ever. -David Shove Roseville On Tue, 6 Dec 2005, Wendy Wilde wrote: > >There are non-trivial First Amendment problems with this proposal, not the > >least of which is defining what an interest group is. Should someone who > >takes support from, say Progressive Minnesota, be banned from voting on the > >whole range of public issues that PM has taken a position on? David Brauer > > But interest groups... such as PM or any other... could quickly become a > mere funnel for huge financial interests... including individuals and > businesses... and have the same effect as direct donation of money to > political leaders. > > Take, for example, FREEDOM CLUB FEDERAL PAC which poured $45,000 directly > into Minnesota Republican hands in 2001/2002 election cycle... $0 to Dems or > Greens or Inds... and was funded almost exclusively by big money Minnesota > CEOs and company VPs. > > Is the answer not recusal from votes but cessation of independent campaign > funds? Not an original idea but how else to clean up even the appearance of > influence? > > And isn't the ruling that "money" is "speech" problematic for democracy by, > of, and for the people? > > Wendy Wilde > So Minneapolis > REMINDERS: > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. > If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL > PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn > E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
