John McCain is a media darling, frequently tagged with the complimentary populist label. He's expected to mount a serious campaign for the presidency again in 2008. He's also co-author, along with Russ Feingold, of one of the most dangerous bills ever signed into law.
The McCain-Feingold law purported to be about giving a larger political voice to the average citizen. What it has become is something far worse.
The supposed reform bill was not written because of any outcry from the populous about the need for it. Rather, it was lobbied for and financed, to the tune of over $83 million, by liberal organizations like the Carnegie Foundation and George Soros' Open Society Fund. Ironic that a movement to limit the voice of other lobbyists was funded by its very own leftist lobby. The goal was simple -- limit the political free speech of a segment of society known for its fondness for Republicans. Unfortunately, the snow job worked.
Now the FEC is taking an even tighter death-grip on political free speech in America by targeting bloggers.
In 2002, the FEC ruled the Internet exempt from campaign finance restrictions, an exemption that was quickly protested by John McCain and Russ Feingold and struck down.
Shortly, it could be considered an illegal campaign contribution to link to any candidate's Web site, forward or display a politician's press release, or endorse a particular candidate on your own blog.
The FEC isn't looking into just regulating blogs associated directly with a candidate, nor even just the high-traffic politically-oriented blogs like Andrew Sullivan, InstaPundit or DailyKos. They are seriously considering regulating all of the over eight million blogs in existence today.
That's right, if you linked to a political site on your personal blog, the FEC could deem that the money you pay for Internet access, the cost of your computer, even the electricity you use while online to be financial contribution to a political candidate. You could be subjected to fines and other penalties for expressing your personal opinion on your own Web space.
While it should be quite flattering to bloggers that the FEC thinks blogs are now an influential enough force to be worthy of regulations, it is sad that they have taken a bad situation and made it worse. By attempting to stifle the political free speech of yet another segment of society, the supporters of campaign finance reform have shown this isn't about giving more people a voice but rather limiting them. Rather than reform campaign finance, McCain-Feingold will restrict political free speech to only those who the two senators or the FEC approve of. Feingold has said he would not mind exempting the blogs of "legitimate online journalists." I shudder to think government regulations would be applied based on who Feingold and his associates believe is legitimate.
This last election showed the power of blogs to fact-check candidates and even bring news corporations to task for gross negligence in reporting. Ironically, this story initially spread through the blogsphere, which has shown a remarkable ability to know what people are up to before major media sources do. If the FEC is allowed to get its hands on the Internet, McCain-Feingold could seriously damage the last true bastion of political free speech. I trust the public will remember how strongly these senators opposed exempting the Internet, should either of them, say, run for president some day.
Write to Tim at
redbaron.strikesagain@gmail.com
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