Koch Brothers:
Posted on 06/27/2014 5:56:18 AM PDT by don-o
While much of Washington grapples with international crises, chronic economic troubles, and upcoming midterm elections, Senate Democrats are steadily pushing forward with what they hope will become the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The proposed amendment would give Congress authority to regulate every dollar raised, and every dollar spent, by every federal campaign and candidate in the country. It would give state legislatures the power to do the same with state races.
Framed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a response to campaign spending by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, the proposed amendment, written by Democratic Senators Tom Udall and Michael Bennet and co-sponsored by 42 other Senate Democrats, would vastly increase the power of Congress to control elections and political speech. Sign Up for the Byron York newsletter!
The problem is, Democrats aren't quite sure exactly what the amendment should say. In a move that received virtually no attention, they recently re-wrote the measure — and in the process revealed its fatal flaw.
This is the heart of the amendment as originally written by Udall and Bennet:
To advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes, Congress shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect to federal elections, including through setting limits on --
(1) the amount of contributions to candidates for nomination for election to, or for election to, federal office; and
(2) the amount of funds that may be spent by, in support of, or in opposition to such candidates.
There are literally no limits to congressional power in those words.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
The law will only apply to the Republican Party.
TRANSLATION: Incumbents get to regulate challengers out of existence.
This is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Say NO to ever-more government meddling.
Keep democrats from ramming through this nonsense.
‘zackly.
Full article shows that Ted Cruz basically burned then thing down in committee hearing, even though it passed.
Harry Reid is just p*ssed because the Koch Brothers only gave him $500 lousy bucks!
http://freebeacon.com/blog/harry-reid-took-money-from-koch-lobbyist/
They expended the effort to Emmanuel Goldstein the Koch Brothers to the point that liberals really think they are magical demonic gods controlling the universe.
Now, they're telling these gullible dipsh1ts that the Democratic Party is fighting to slay the demons through their own super powerful magic - a constitutional amendment that trumps all counter efforts !! So send them lots of money so they can keep up the good fight and free us from our Kochmonster overlords.
Our founding fathers made the constitutional amendment process far too rigorous for nonsense like this to ever get past the posturing phase.
Many on FR have a similar opinion of George Soros.
We need term limits for senators. It would help prevent crooked, back-stabbing, scumbucket for life politicians like Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, or Lindsey Graham.
Is there also an anti-Sorros amendment?
This is a thorny problem. How do you block money from Koch and Limbaugh and Sarah Palin superpacs while letting Soros, Zuckerman, Bill Gates money flood in?
Putting incumbents in charge of challenger’s funding will be the end of government by the people.
He does this only to fill the headlines with his stupidity so there won't be any room left for what's really going on.
They expended the effort to Emmanuel Goldstein the Koch Brothers to the point that liberals really think they are magical demonic gods controlling the universe.
Many on FR have a similar opinion of George Soros.
The difference is I don’t see the Koch Brothers trying to manipulate nations into going to war for profit or funding the AntiChrist to destroy a nation. That’s just for starters. Soros is on a whole different level and is inherently and truly evil.
The article ends with Sen. Cruz challenging Sen. Durbin on whether the amendment would give Congress the power to ban movies. What it doesn’t say is that Sen. Cruz pointed out in the hearing that this is EXACTLY what the Citizens United case was about. It arose because the government banned the Hillary movie in 2008, deeming it a campaign contribtion.
My point was more about the “magical demonic god”. Some on here see Soros behind EVERYTHING that happens.
I’d like to see a 28th Amendment where all outside political funding is outlawed. All lobbying is outlawed.
A fund is created for Presidential, House & Senate campaigns.
Each side gets identical identical funds. Each side gets identical time on all news outlets. When one ad runs, the opposing ad must run. The best man or woman wins.
Any negative ads against the opponent and you’re disqualified.
You have 6 months ONLY prior to the election to start campaigning. Start any sooner and you’re disqualified.
Limit all terms to 2 terms max.
No retirement unless you go on to complete 20 or years of combined civil service.
I’ll ad that Lawyers are not allowed to run PERIOD.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.