Censorship
Most everyone will be aware that this week, the Supreme Court recognized that Corporations are covered by the 1st Amendment. There are some very good discussions here and here. But I will add this: “As long as I’m your President, I’ll never stop fighting to make sure that the most powerful voice in Washington belongs to you,” President Obama. Somehow, this statement ranks up there with: “Hope and Change”, “Back to our Founding Documents”, “Bi-partisanship”, “Open Process”, and others. The man is already proved to be disingenuous and speaking from both sides of his mouth as seems fitting.
This is important. McCain-Feingold censored corporations – with the exception of Media Corporations. I cannot help but think of “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal” quote from Animal Farm. I am also reminded of Proverbs 20:10 “Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the LORD.” And what DOES the First Amendment say: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” There was a lot of talk about Precedent being overturned with this decision. So what? Precedent is, at best, an informal guide as to what others think about a particular law. Precedent is not the law itself and cannot be treated as such. Otherwise, as others have noted, Segregation would still be legal or judgments such as Dred Scott.
Can Corporations have excessive influence? Certainly, but then so can individuals as well. To argue that a corporation has undue influence on the political process is to also argue that individuals have undue influence on the political process. And what is a corporation except an organization run by people? What is the real corrupting factor? People? Corporations? No, it is Money and Power. If one is to censor, it should not be based on whether one filed as an C-Corp. or formed a PAC, but on whether or not there is money and power? Who decides how to quantify that?
The problem with government limiting anything is that it creates political power. The problem with limiting corporations is that, if you are anti-corporation, you now have undue influence over them. How is the censored supposed to protect itself from those who would ruin it? Large corporations, wealthy corporations and wealthy individuals can have excessive influence over government and, via legislation crafted by those they sponsor, create artificial obstacles to prevent competition and protect their own gains. But how to combat this influence?
Free markets and, more critically: the free flow of information. If all political campaigns are required to disclose their funding sources and all advertisements required to disclose their creators and funders, the voters can see for themselves who is influencing what and make decisions from there. The Internet is an amazing mixed bag of information. But, and this is what is great about the Internet: you can cheaply have your voice heard. It is one very good reason why government should be kept out and away from regulating Internet content. It is a good reason to oppose the Legislation which allows the President to “turn off” the Internet in the event of a “National Emergency”.
Quite frankly, what should be turned off is the assumption that anything digital can be made hacker proof. Nuclear power plants should not be remotely accessible via the Internet (whoever thought they should be and made them so should have been fired). Then there are some freakish elected officials in Washington who think that Blogs and the Internet should be regulated for speech. Worse, however, is the amorphous Hate Speech laws. Certainly Hate Speech should be shunned, but it is protected by the First Amendment none-the-less. Additionally, it is always good to know who the quality of a person you are dealing with and that is more difficult to know when Freedom of Speech is impaired.
Censoring Corporations, or large donors, or the Internet does nothing to purify the political process. If anything, it makes the water murkier.