I have a former liberal friend now confused about the “evil” supreme court for upholding free speech. He knows too little about the issue and passes judgment anyway.
I have a similar friend, except he's not formally liberal. He's currently liberal, getting more so by the day.
The worst thing about his outrage at McCain-Feingold being thrown out is that he argues that corporations can't have free speech because they are a collection of people, not a person.
I asked, "do union members have the right to speak to the government"? His answer: Of course! Because they represent the collective.
So do corporations, I remind him. And I ask: "are you saying that out society suffers from too many informed ideas and too many voices?"
He has no answer. He's a college professor, by the way. Liberals very rarely seem to tolerate free speech when they don't agree with it.
My former liberal friend, while not a professor, might be smarter than that. His fear is more about the fungibility of multi-national corporations having influence. According to the best legal minds, that’s not the case.