Posted on 11/02/2021 3:54:12 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
The Federal Election Commission has ruled foreign donors can finance U.S. referendum campaigns, opening the door to foreign spending on fights over high-profile policy issues, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Foreign nationals are barred from donating to U.S. political candidates or committees. But the FEC's decision — allowing them to support ballot committees — provides another avenue for foreigners to directly influence U.S. voters and domestic policy.
*****
The decision only concerns federal law; states remain free to outlaw foreign funding for state-registered ballot committees.
Seven states already do so. In Maine, where a Canadian-owned power company is financing a ballot committee pushing for new energy transmission lines, Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, recently vetoed legislation to ban foreign ballot measure funding. Driving the news: In a 4-2 vote in July, the FEC ruled ballot initiatives are not "elections" under existing federal law, and therefore the foreign donation prohibition doesn't apply.
(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...
This is why George Washington cautioned future Americans to stay out of foreign entanglements. A little foot in the door leads to favors and threats later.
Farewell Address included:
Frustrated by French meddling in U.S. politics, Washington warned the nation to avoid permanent alliances with foreign nations and to rely instead on temporary alliances for emergencies. Washington’s efforts to protect the fragile young republic by steering a neutral course between England and France during the French Revolutionary Wars was made extremely difficult by the intense rhetoric flowing from the pro-English Federalists...
In his farewell address, Washington exhorted Americans to set aside their violent likes and dislikes of foreign nations, lest they be controlled by their passions: “The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.”
From U.S. Dept. of State, Office of the Historian.
bookmark
This is awful. congress better get off their butts and make it illegal for foreign money in a campaign, period. Massive fines amd jail time.
Yet 12 years after Washington's death, the British were burning the U.S. Capitol.
As usual it was BLM burning the building.
British Lives Matter.
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.