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Calling on Publius to Stop the Madness
Townhall.com ^ | April 2, 2015 | Ken Blackwell

Posted on 04/02/2016 5:49:19 AM PDT by Kaslin

Are you familiar with Mrs. Silence Dogood?

How about Publius?

They are a pseudonym (fictional pen name) and an allonym (a historical pen name) employed by men in our Founding Generation. Ben Franklin wrote as the widow “Mrs. Silence Dogood” and James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay shared the name “Publius” in making the case for U.S. Constitution in The Federalist Papers.  

The anonymity provided by these pen names allowed focus on the argument not the author.  The anonymity safeguarded the author from political retribution or worse.   These founders, who did not disclose their identity, understood the value of political speech and fought for its protection ultimately through the First Amendment.    Amazingly, one of the greatest threats we face today is the freedom of citizens to express themselves.  The Left’s strategy is to limit political speech through campaign finance laws that use attractive words like “transparency” and “disclosure.”  The Democratic Attorney General in California is using these tactics against nonprofits in her state

Amazingly, a Republican state Senator, Kurt Schaefer, is leading an effort to require 501 (c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups to disclose their donors. His sweeping amendments to a Senate bill would require all these groups to name their contributors (and expenditures) if anyone who makes spending decisions for the group is a candidate, a candidate’s spouse or – and get this – “has a contract or is employed by a candidate.” Recently, the Wall Street Journal criticized the work of Senator Schaefer, asserting these speech restrictions would have the effect of a c4, like the National Rile Association, to disclose all their donors, if one of their consultants works for a political candidate in Missouri, even if the group is not active in the state.  Imagine if a candidate had a fundraiser who also raised money for a c3 like a Christian adoption agency. If this consultant makes spending decisions, the amendments seem to be written so broadly that these donors of this charity may have to be disclosed. 

Why would the Republican state Senator and Attorney General candidate Kurt Schaefer want to use the concepts of “disclosure” and “transparency” to stifle political speech?   He seems to be in the dark pursuit of his own private political ends.  I have written about Senator Schaeffer in the past. As a Republican candidate for Attorney General, he is struggling in a Republican primary against the Constitutional lawyer, Josh Hawley, who National Reviewhas named the “easy Conservative choice.” Unfortunately, as a republican Senator, Schaeffer has fought against religious liberty and tort reform and isn't a darling of conservative Republicans.  Disclosure and transparency are of no virtue if they’re used to shut down your political opponents.

Never mind that Schaefer’s speech restrictions seem unconstitutional under our framer’s First Amendment, and the state of Missouri will squander precious taxpayer dollars defending it in the federal courts. His amendments ill-service the public in the greater cause of serving himself and other incumbent politicians seeking higher office. Pretty words like “transparency” and “disclosure” are, in this instance, false flags for the ugliest political intimidation. Individuals and interest groups with business before Senator Schaefer – or any incumbent -- may be unwilling to support his opponents, for fear of reprisal, if they know all their names will be made public.  (“Nice little business or career you got going there. It would be a shame if I passed a law or exerted some muscle making it harder for you to make a living.”)

This kind of rough stuff is already happening to disclosed donors around the country.  The head of Mozilla lost his job for making a small contribution to a marriage campaign in California when it was publicly exposed.  Businesses have been boycotted and ringed with protestors. You can read about some of it in The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech.

Can it happen in Missouri? Well, it appears that Senator Schaeffer has already attempted to silence the political speech of Josh Hawley. According to former University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe, Schaefer pressured him several times “to take away Josh Hawley’s right to ask for an unpaid leave of absence to run for office to run for office” Rebuffed on that front, the Senator then asked Wolfe  “to get in the middle of the tenure decision for Mister Hawley, which I refused as well.”

After initially refusing to comment when a reporter from the Kansas City Star called, Senator Schaeffer denied the charge.

But why give the “Senator Schaeffers” of our politics more opportunities to silence their opponents and curtail all of our political speech?

It’s a question “Publius” (meaning also “friend of the people”) could certainly answer.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 1stcanadiansenator; catsawaymiceplay; globalistcruz; kaslin; moosebitsister; noteligiblecruz; openboarderscruz; unipartynarrative

1 posted on 04/02/2016 5:49:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
pseudonym (fictional pen name) and an allonym (a historical pen name)

Dear Mr. Blackewll

Either use the word or the definition. Printing both is insulting.

2 posted on 04/02/2016 6:22:32 AM PDT by super7man (Madam Defarge, knitting , knitting, always knitting.)
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To: super7man

The definition was provided for the illiterate majority. I lament the need for the redundancy, not the fact of it.


3 posted on 04/02/2016 7:15:56 AM PDT by MortMan (Let's call the push for amnesty what it is: Pedrophilia.)
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To: Kaslin

If I wrote something this poorly, I wouldn’t post it at FR.


4 posted on 04/02/2016 10:52:58 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Publius
Either you have a bad conscience or you are holding yourself so important that you think Ambassador Blackwell would write about you.

GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE, BEFORE SOMEONE KNOCKS YOU OFF.

5 posted on 04/02/2016 11:56:09 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Kaslin

And you should get a sense of humor.


6 posted on 04/02/2016 12:07:56 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Kaslin; super7man; MortMan; Publius
Let me clarify the definitions for us illiterate majority.

What are donors?

Oligarchy, a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, religious or military control.

Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition for the application of this term.

Oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy.


7 posted on 04/02/2016 12:55:23 PM PDT by donna (Radicalized Christians become missionaries; then, they tell everyone that Jesus loves them!)
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To: donna
Good point.

And as Gibbon remarked in his magisterial tome on the Roman Empire, there is an inexorable process by which republics become oligarchies.

8 posted on 04/02/2016 12:57:13 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Publius
The feds are forcing the arrest of local cops, cake bakers and forcing males into girls’ bathrooms. Protecting the ID of DONORS hoping to buy privilege instead of using one-man-one-vote . . why, it's too late!

Soros (and the rest) have already made the purchase. We are his slaves.

9 posted on 04/02/2016 1:12:16 PM PDT by donna (Radicalized Christians become missionaries; then, they tell everyone that Jesus loves them!)
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To: super7man
Either use the word or the definition. Printing both is insulting.

Only if you have insecurity isues.
I appreciated both.

Have you always been a pompous ass, or is it something recent?

10 posted on 04/02/2016 5:56:44 PM PDT by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: MortMan
The definition was provided for the illiterate majority. I lament the need for the redundancy, not the fact of it.

Cheese and Rice! Blatant academic arrogance!

Unfamiliarity with arcane words now defines the rest of us as illiterate? OK, I accept the humorous presumption.

It's been a long time since I've run across a worse (better?) example of self-inflating pomposity.

11 posted on 04/02/2016 6:08:40 PM PDT by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: publius911

Illiterate may well be the wrong word, but to reach a mass audience one is expected to write no higher than about an 8th grade level, IIRC.


12 posted on 04/02/2016 8:45:55 PM PDT by MortMan (Let's call the push for amnesty what it is: Pedrophilia.)
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