Michael Moore, once a scruffy maker of cheap, funny, satirical documentaries, now puffs himself with the plaudits of the metrosexuals of Hollywood and Cannes. Having portrayed Americans as a bunch of gun-happy lunatics in "Bowling for Columbine," he's now shooting at...
Elections
Campaign-Finance Reform Attacks Victims of Government Corruption
In upholding the major provisions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, the Supreme Court has openly declared that it is legitimate to curtail freedom of speech "marginally" in order to fight government corruption. But the sad reality is that the new laws not...
Campaign Finance Limits Violate Free Speech
Earlier this year President Bush risked the lives of American military personnel to end Iraq's tyrannical regime--a dictatorship that not only restricted the actions of Iraqis but also silenced them from speaking their mind. It is ironic that President Bush led...
California’s Recall Election: Dangerous Democracy at Work
Most people realize that there is something deeply wrong in California's current political fiasco. Critics of the recall are right, this election is wrong, but not for the reasons they have given. Far from being anti-democratic, the recall is democracy in action, and...
California’s Real Elections
Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a big splash in the media by entering the California governor's race. But the real news out of California came a few days before Arnold's political bombshell. The latest census data show -- for the first time -- that more Californians...
Tax Day Should Also Be Election Day
April 15 is like a national holiday for conservatives. It is the one day each year when Americans are forced to think about the cost of government. That is why many conservatives have long thought that tax day should also be Election Day. A review of polling data on...
Grasping the Essence of the Republican Victory: A Philosopher Analyzes the 2002 Elections
The election results were good. The outcome was, in all modesty, what I had expected for a year: Republican control of the Congress. I expected this because of 9/11, and that is in fact the explanation of the outcome. I agree with those commentators who say that the...
The Election We Deserve
As of the writing of this column, it is mid-day on Nov. 5, and the exit polls have not even begun to predict how today's elections will end. It might seem like a bad time to make predictions, given that this is considered one of the tightest congressional contests in...
High Stakes Elections and Voter Turnout
During election years, people in the media seem to be forever lamenting the fact that millions of Americans who are eligible to vote do not in fact go to the polls. When speculating as to why those people don't vote, the media often assume that there is something...
Campaign Finances and Corruption
In one of the great ironies of contemporary politics, Congress [last month] passed an economic "stimulus" package the day after the recession was declared to be over. Obviously, the legislators didn't really care about stimulating the economy, which had already...
Campaign Finance Reform Diversions
There's a story about Catholic priests who contracted to have a new church built for their congregation. When the church was completed, and just before the priests came for their final inspection, the contractor cemented a Buddhist statue in the center of the altar....
“Campaign Finance Reform” Regulates Free Speech
The Enron scandal was welcomed like an unexpected Christmas present by Democrats who, together with much of the media, have tried to tie the scandal to the Bush administration. However, as more and more information has come out about Enron, it has become clear that...
Why New Campaign Finance Laws Will Punish Free Speech, But Not Corruption
Newsflash: The woman who helped launder Al Gore's Buddhist temple money has not served a single day in jail. And she probably never will. The hidden story of how funny money honey Maria Hsia escaped any meaningful punishment for corrupting our election system shows...
Dissecting the Principles Underlying Campaign Finance Reform
The unacknowledged principle behind the recently passed House of Representatives "campaign finance reform" bill: Established media giants (CBS, ABC, New York Times) have a constitutional right to be free of restrictions on what they air or publish. (This of course is...
Top Ten Myths About Campaign Finance Reform
Myth #1: "Shays-Meehan is constitutional." Any bill that attempts to "equalize" citizens' political speech through criminal and civil penalties for "excessive" or "unfair" speech violates the First Amendment, which provides in plain terms that "Congress shall make no...
Why is “Campaign Finance Reform” Popular–Amongst Politicians?
In its reckless disregard of the Constitution when it passed "campaign finance reform" legislation, the House of Representatives has demonstrated dramatically why we need real political reform. The First Amendment to the Constitution begins "Congress shall make no...
Campaign Finance Reform: Wrong Target
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-Ariz., makes a lot of political hay portraying himself as the hero for campaign finance reform and against influence-peddling. He's for restrictions on the "soft money" millions that flow into the campaign coffers of the Republican and Democratic...
Activism Alert: Campaign Finance Regulation vs. Free Speech
The House Republican leadership announced that on Wednesday, February 13, 2002 campaign finance regulation legislation will be brought to the floor for a vote. A similar bill has already passed in the Senate and if passed by the House, this legislation threatens a...
The Facts vs. “Campaign Finance Reform” Fictions
To crusaders for "campaign finance reform," as with many other political crusaders, the facts simply do not matter. What matters is their vision -- and winning. Facts can be left to others. Most of the arguments for campaign finance reform cannot stand up to the...
Campaign Finance Reform and Other “Feel Good” Laws
It is not often that conservative talk-show host extraordinaire Rush Limbaugh and Harlem's left-wing Congressman Charles Rangel are in agreement on anything. But they both say that the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, which has just passed the Senate to...
Campaign Finance Reform: Wrong Target
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-Ariz., makes a lot of political hay portraying himself as the hero for campaign finance reform and against influence-peddling. He's for restrictions on the "soft money" millions that flow into the campaign coffers of the Republican and Democratic...
The Price of Shinawatra Winning The Thai Election: Short Term Gain, Long Term Pain?
During elections last weekend, Thai billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory, and barring certain legal challenges, will become Thailand's next prime minister. As owner of Thailand's largest wireless wireless communications company, Advanced...
Election 2000’s Message: Don’t Subsidize Political Stupidity
Election 2000's racial message is that President-Elect George Bush and the Republican Party shouldn't subsidize political stupidity. You say, "What do you mean, Williams?" Given Bush's devastating loss among black voters, in some states 95 percent voted for Gore, some...
Separating the Wheat From the Chad: Election 2000 Facts versus Myths
Elections are supposed to be decided by voters on election day, not by judges later on. But once state and local courts inject themselves into post-election controversies, without any legal justification, the only institution that can get rid of their interference is...
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