Today that old feeling of disgust reemerged. It didn’t take me long after I first read about McCain-Feingold – eight years ago in my political science class with Dr. Mickey Craig (to whom I owe a lot of my depth and insights into politics) – to develop a visceral anger towards the misguided “reform” idea.
Weak-willed Congressmen couldn’t vote it down, the President naively signed it into law, and the Supreme Court narrowly ruled the restrictive law constitutional. And now… it’s ba-a-a-ack!
The blogosphere has justly erupted with concern about the McCain-Feingold lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission that could essentially shut down freelance political blogging by turning hyperlinks to campaign websites into in-kind contributions! I don’t think I need to tell you how absurd that is.
Captain Ed has raised the gauntlet with an open letter to the US Senate and urges political bloggers of all stripes – this is a cause for the Right, Left, and everyone in between to band together on – to stand up for our rights to free speech!
Whatever state in which you live, contact your US Senators and let them know where you stand on this issue. We can’t stand idly by. Town Hall has a Web form set up for your convenience. What are you waiting for?
Update: Reader, commenter, and fellow blogger Don Singleton has alerted me to another take on the seriousness of this issue. Even provided this assessment is correct, it doesn’t change my opinion in the least about McCain-Feingold and its enforcement. Whether or not it attempts to regulate political blogging, the attempt to “crack down” on soft money as a way to solve political corruption is naive, shortsighted, and misguided.
Update 2: Michelle Malkin is on top of the controversy concerning whether the FEC is planning to regulate political blogging. She also links to some blogger’s retorts to the FEC’s poo-pooing of raised hackles on the Internet.
And LaShawn is doing a big round-up on the issue, as well (better late than never!). Check them both out. This is one issue on which anyone interested in the vitality of the blogosphere needs to stay informed.
Three things: First, I predict the Mainstream News Media will not cover this because they would love to see the blogsphere be shut down and because they don’t believe in Free Speech and the First Amendment. Second, this matter should be the weekend issue. Every blogger around should be talking about this, getting it Out There, to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, etc. Third, since John McCain sponsored this violation of Free Speech and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, it goes to show what he is all about. If this is not what he wanted then he should be front and center to change it. Pressure him to take a public stand: Does he support Free Speech and the First Amendment or not?