You are 100% correct. I don’t understand how a person can lose their rights to not be libeled just because they pay a fee and file for office. I would think it would also be an equal justice under the law issue as well. There again, it would take a huge amount of resources to push this forward.
Unfortunately, I think this political dichotomy is also affected by the intrinsic values and motivations of the different political persuasions. Socialists by their nature want to be in a crowd working toward a common goal. If a socialist leader asks their followers to call legislators or boycott a business, the group-think kicks in and they ALL want to do it -— high numbers will get involved to make things happen. Their activism flows organically from their politics.
Capitalists, on the other hand, tend to work independently and with a profit motive. We are more philanthropic than activist. If you want to do politics, they are glad to help you out for a price. You need folks to make calls to legislators, they will be glad to tell you how to set up and work a phone bank, and then send you to the person who will help you hire the people you need. Our activism costs us, more often than not.
If you read the New York Times Co v. Sullivan case, you will get the picture. It makes good First Amendment sense provided that the big media outlets are divided ideologically in roughly the same way that the voting public is. And nothing in the Sullivan case suggested anything else; the question simply was not considered. It was not in the nature of the case to bring anything of the sort up. At all.it would take a huge amount of resources to push this forward.It is therefore necessary to bring to SCOTUS a case which points out that a rule which makes it equally difficult for Democrats and Republicans to sue for libel is balanced between Democrats and Republicans in exactly the same sense that a law against sleeping under bridges applies to rich and poor alike. Republicans get libeled as a matter of course - and Democrats don’t get libeled. At all.
If every Republican agreed with the strategy, and backed it with a little dough (and had the hope of participating in any settlement obtained), you would think that the money could be raised. But I guess I’m not a particularly persuasive writer . . .