A fundamental question: How do we protect free speech while avoiding a dictatorship of wealth?
by Jack GrantThe consequences of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law are coming home to roost, notably in potential Federal Election Commission regulations on weblogs that write in support of candidates.
Our Constitution is founded upon the principle that “all men are created equal” and that any political speech should not be regulated or restricted by the government.
It is undeniable, however, that those with a great deal of money to call upon have a distorting influence upon both elections and in setting the agenda not only for discussion in the media, but in the end what is discussed and voted upon in Congress.
The fundamental dilemma: How do we protect the right of freedom of speech while avoiding a dictatorship of wealth?
In other words, how do we not suffer the fate described in a different context in the last lines of the George Orwell book Animal Farm
But some animals are more equal than others…
I can only hope we find answers that do us credit, for the solutions we impose will affect our nation, and our heirs, for good or for ill, for a long time.
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