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May 01, 2014 02:00 am | W. James Antle III
Democrats
are often accused of campaigning to repeal the Second Amendment. Now
they head into this election year on record as wanting to repeal the
First Amendment too.Alright, that may be an exaggeration. But Senate Democrats are preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment that would reverse the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. FEC decisions.
In each of those rulings, a narrow majority of the Supreme Court—made up entirely of the conservative bloc of justices—affirmed the role of money in free speech and struck down parts of campaign-finance laws. Citizens United paved the way for the wealthy to fund “super PACs” with no legal connection to the campaigns they are supporting; McCutcheon got rid of aggregate campaign giving limits.
New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer says the amendment will ensure “the wealthy can’t drown out middle-class voices in our Democracy.” In progressive circles, Citizens United in particular is seen as the symbol of money corrupting politics. That includes Wall Street, the Koch brothers, the 1 percent, all of these moneyed interests distorting democracy.
read morehttp://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-democrats-pointless-citizens-united-amendment-10368
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