It is First in the Nation Primary Day in New Hampshire. Tomorrow the phone will ring less, the mailbox will not runneth over with shiny circus-like campaign literature, and the digital froth in my email, well…this morning I woke to this from NHRebellion:
BREAKING NEWS: Jeb Bush calls for Overturning Citizens United to stop Super PAC spending
Did you spit your coffee on your keyboard? Sorry about that.
The not so breaking news is that NHRebellion is a front for another item on the progressive punch-list, but this? It’s a punch line. Sorry whiners but money is speech. Anonymous speech is speech. Anonymous money in speech is speech. And those with ears to hear, and brains to follow along, will know that Jeb! spent a Super PAC fortune to no avail, essentially proving that what NH Rebellion wants doesn’t matter. Super PAC money is not the evil they claim.
NHRebellion supports the left’s militant opposition to money in politics and is a wholly owned subsidiary of them. They support more government control of political speech, the very thing the first amendment was written to prevent. A provision written by “rich white guys” who, by all accounts, would benefit significantly from the opposite if we were to believe NH Rebellion and their progressive ilk.
The progressives in the political class want to control money in politics because it advantages the political class, with the possible exception of Jeb! Bush who had over $100 million in Super PAC money and has next to nothing to show for it.
Despite Jeb’s lack of success there is very little political speech that can be engaged in without money.
We must also understand and accept that you cannot insist on 100% transparency regarding all money in politics the way you cannot insist on ending anonymous handles in social media; the people who want it are the same people who will use that to intimidate you into silence in the future. It’s like a gun-registry for your ideology. When the time comes to silence dissenters the government, or one of its agencies, agents, or water-carriers grabs the list and pays you a visit. Maybe they do some community organizing to harass you, your family, friends, or employer. And the point isn’t necessarily to silence you. It is to send a message to anyone else who has an opinion about anything, ever, now, and forever, Amen.
It warns you off, tells you to keep it to yourself. It uses force, thanks to an act of congress, to prevent you from expressing your thoughts and ideas.
And they need that. They need it because while they are certain you can convince you that someone will be easily taken in by the next political old-whore-in-a-new-dress with a fist full of fifties, they are not convinced that you are stupid enough to accept the intolerant and oppressive centrally planned Bulls**t they have planned, for which they will need generations of “slaves” to pay.
It is worth noting here that the entire public education system seems designed to solve this problem. And they are close. Look at the support for Bernie Sanders. Look at Jeb! Bush, a guy who, under any new and improved McCain-Feingold-esque government approved speech limiting law, would still knows enough of the right sort of people in the political class to amass enough money under the new rules to prevent anyone else from effectively speaking about why he’s anything more than their shill.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what this is all about. Jeb doesn’t care about money in politics. He cares about his donors and his money advancing his politics. The politics of the incumbent political class down in Washington DC.
[Update: I changed the title. It makes more sense while making the same point]
NH Rebellion Email:
BREAKING NEWS: Jeb Bush calls for Overturning Citizens United to stop Super PAC spending
NH Rebellion claims a victory as more candidates adopt #FightBigMoney agenda before First-in-the-Nation Primary
In New Hampshire campaign stops today, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush added his voice to the national movement to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a victory for the anti-big money grassroots group NH Rebellion. In an interview with CNN, later repeated at other events, Bush said “I would turn that [ruling] on its head if I could.”
NH Rebellion Executive Director Dan Weeks welcomed Bush’s shift, even after the former governor raised over $100 million in unlimited contributions to his affiliated Super PACs. “I am glad Governor Bush has come to agree with the majority of Americans that Citizens United needs to be overturned to end the disgrace of unlimited Super PAC spending in campaigns,” Weeks said. “Ironic though it is coming from the #1 beneficiary of Super PAC money, Bush’s evolution shows that voters in both parties are finally being heard when they say, overwhelmingly, that our current campaign finance system is corrupt.”
In addition to overturning Citizens United, Bush has called for complete disclosure of campaign donations and for eliminating the dollar-limit restrictions on contributions to candidates’ campaigns.
“Full transparency would certainly be better than the current system, which allows high-dollar political spenders to hide their identities through shady c4 organizations,” Weeks said. “But disclosure doesn’t fix the real problem: Americans aren’t just angry that we don’t know who is buying our politicians, we’re angry that our politicians are being bought, period.”
Weeks noted that, during the course of the New Hampshire primary, several Republican and Democratic candidates have shifted their positions on campaign finance reform. “There has been a lot of movement in the right direction, as candidates have seen thousands of Granite Staters take to the streets as part of the NH Rebellion, and answered countless questions in diners and town halls,” he said. “Last month, we issued a preliminary candidates scorecard showing how far the candidates have come since we began the marches and birddogging, and it’s encouraging to see the continued movement since.”
Weeks noted that the leading GOP candidate in New Hampshire, Donald Trump, had already endorsed a ban on Super PACs and expressed support for small donor citizen-funded elections, although he had yet to release specifics. “Trump has been speaking about the problem since day one of his campaign – easy enough for a billionaire who doesn’t need outside support. But just talking about the need for campaign finance reform isn’t enough. Voters deserve to have some idea of how he plans to fix the system,” Weeks said.
Just yesterday, the NH Rebellion concluded its We the People Convention to #FightBigMoney bringing together over 700 activists from across the political spectrum to hear from issue experts, elected officials and celebrities including actor Sam Waterston, comedian Jimmy Tingle and best-selling author Marianne Williamson. The Convention included presentations by conservative political consultant John Pudner and former Bush administration official Richard Painter, as well as remarks by GOP presidential candidate Gov. Jim Gilmore and surrogates for the Kasich, Trump, Clinton, and Sanders campaigns.
In the press release sent earlier today, Weeks predicted that the outcome of tomorrow’s First-in-the-Nation Presidential Primary will be driven largely by citizens’ concerns about campaign finance corruption and the candidates’ positions on the issue.
“Big money in politics has been the ‘silent story’ of this presidential election – and it’s becoming less silent by the day,” Weeks said. “The American people are way ahead of the political establishment in their condemnation of how our government is being corrupted by the political spending of billionaires and special interest groups.”
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We the People Convention details and “replay” broadcasts are available at http://www.nhrebellion.org/convention.
Photos and video of the Convention available upon request.
The NH Rebellion is best-known for its cold-weather “Walks for Democracy.” To date, more than 2,000 activists have walked a total of 30,000 miles to bring attention to the corrupting influence of large campaign contributions. The movement was inspired by the efforts of the legendary New Hampshire reformer Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who walked across America beginning in 1999 in support of campaign finance reform.
Its “We the People Pledge” describes six proposed campaign finance reforms, and is available at http://www.nhrebellion.org/pledge
