Sen. Marco Rubio’s charge in last week’s presidential debate, that the mainstream media functions as a SuperPAC for Democrats, was not only accurate, I wrote at Townhall, it has deeper implications.
Consider the relentless media drumbeat for restrictive campaign finance regulations.
If the Federal Elections Commission mutes, at Congress’s instruction, voices of the political parties and silences issue-oriented advocacy groups — or such groups are prevented by the IRS from even forming in the first place — and if Democrats get their way and ban SuperPACs (other than the media), who would hold the loudest megaphone?
You guessed it.
The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, NBC News, etc. — corporate behemoths all — warn of the dangers of big, bad corporations and wealthy individuals, hoping to spur regulation that hamstrings the communications of others.
The regulations somehow never involve abridging the speech of those same powerful media outlets.
Last year, every single Democrat in the Senate voted to repeal the essential constitutional guarantee of free speech, voting for Senate Joint Resolution 19, introduced by Sen. Tom Udall (D‑N.M.).
Had it become part of our Constitution, the First Amendment’s words “Congress shall pass no law” would have been replaced with an open-ended invitation for politicians in Congress to “regulate” campaign spending — therefore speech — to their hearts’ content.
The amendment was so sweeping the authors felt the need to add: “Nothing in this article shall be construed to grant Congress or the States the power to abridge the freedom of the press.”
Big Media is a major force promoting Big Government, always willing to attack advocates of a constitutionally limited government.
Except when it comes to constitutional protections for Big Media.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “The Ultimate SuperPAC”
Let’s not forget The Nation’s “End Citizens United campaign.
The proposed Constitutional Amendment is not even surprising as governments always act to enhance their powers at the expense of their citizens’. King George would be proud of Emperor Barak.
Regardless, the value of the media SuperPAC is diminishing as the bias of the various outlets becomes more and more obvious, and the various “news” organizations complain and slander each other for their actual or alleged bias. Thankfully common man is not as stupid and as gullible as many of the politicians, from both sides of the aisle, premise.
This amendment has been reported as overturning Citizens United. But it does not do that; it simply gives Congress awesome new powers to regulate every aspect of campaigns. Furthermore, it actually empowers the Supreme Court because it authorizes the Congress to make “reasonable” new laws about raising and spending money that can dramatically affect congressional races (and state legislators are empowered to do likewise in their campaigns). The SCOTUS will determine without any outside guidance, what laws are “reasonable” and which are not. That hardly slaps the High Court for their Citizens United decision.
I meant to add that with the sweeping new powers this amendment would give Congress, it could certainly overturn Citizens United, and go back to censoring movies with a political impact. Of course, the SCOTUS might rule that unreasonable and strike it down.
One additional issue arises, namely, if Congress is controlled by Big Money, Big Corporations, Big Etc., why would we trust them with such massive power over speech. Again, SJR 19 does nothing to restrict SuperPACs or corporations from spending big money in campaigns. It only empowers Congress to do what it wishes without any constitutional restraint, but only SCOTUS restraint.