Posted on 03/21/2002 2:36:35 AM PST by JohnHuang2
After years of delay, the Senate gave final congressional approval Wednesday to the most sweeping overhaul of campaign spending rules since the Watergate scandals. Continues here.
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Shays-Meehan = Big Government
The Shays-Meehan bill, which cleared the Senate yesterday on a 60-40 vote, would, if signed, constitute the most breathtaking expansion of federal power in decades.
The legislation, euphemistically called "Campaign finance reform", is big government writ large. It reads like a wish-list for bullyragging bureaucratic thugs hell-bent on riding roughshod over citizens and the U.S. Constitution.
And for shady, venal-minded, crooked incumbents in Washington, well, Shays-Meehan is nothing short of a dream-come-true.
Imagine you're a Senator for a moment.
Don't like the notion of citizen advocacy groups taking you to task in TV ads for this or that vote, particularly so close to election day? Don't worry, relax: Campaign finance "reform" comes to the rescue!
Under provisions of Shays-Meehan, broadcast ads by pesky outside groups would be strictly forbidden 60 days before a general election (30 days before a primary). Yes, your troubles are over, dear Senator incumbent.
Groups like the NRA and National Right To Life Committee would be gagged and muffled just as election day looms and voters start paying attention. And -- here's the best part: You're free to swarm the airwaves with gazillions of ads extoling your brilliant Senate record -- all the while smearing your silienced opponents! Dream come true? You bet. If you're an incumbent, that is.
For John or Jane Q. Public, however, this bill could be a nightmare.
Imagine the plethora of potential abuse by FEC pinheads charged with enforcing this misbegotten, draconian rot-gut. Busy-bee bureaucrats, lest we forget, will be writing the labyrinth of regulatory do(s) and don't(s), after all. For citizens wishing to exercise first amendment rights, better hire a lawyer first -- this tangled mishmash maze of legal gallimaufry could land you in the pokey. And saddle you with hefty fines, to boot. Ask the Christian Coalition.
With Shays-Meehan, the era of big government will be back -- with a vengeance. Its administration will require an unconscionable transfer of power from citizens and states to federal Washington. Agencies such as the FEC, under this measure, will mushroom into unyielding monoliths, inexorably.
Our founding fathers are spinning in their graves.
Yet, in assembling their mammoth shrine to leviathan government, "reformers" have overplayed their hand. Shays-Meehan contains the seeds of its own demise -- at the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.
So many of its fallacious provisions are so flagrantly unconstitutional -- so 'in-your-face -- the Supremes are likely to toss the whole thing in the ash-heap, in a New York minute.
The ash heap is, after all, the fate that awaits all such unlawful encroachments on our constitutional liberties.
That said, let me dispel a popular myth over why Bush intends to sign it.
Myth: Bush is a coward. He's afraid that a veto will spark a withering media/McCaniac firestorm, and a backlash from voters -- one which will cost him 15-20% points or more in popularity.
Fact: Outside the beltway, no one gives a rat's rump for Campaign finance "reform". Typically, this issue barely registers in surveys -- 2%, at most. With public attention focused so intently on the war, Bush could veto this easily with minimal downside risk. And he knows it.
Bottom line: The 'Bush is a coward' theory doesn't wash.
So why is he signing it? Most likely, his advisors tell him that signing it is the easiest way to kill it -- once and for all. The courts will strike down most -- if not all -- of its provisions. Doubling the limits on hard money donations to candidates -- a Republican advantage -- will likely survive, but not much else.
You may agree or disagree with this strategy -- I would much prefer a veto -- but to call the President a sniveling coward strikes me as hokum.
My two cents....
"JohnHuang2"
Drive a stake into it! All that will remain is increased hard money dontations. Senator Mitch McConnell deserves an medal.
Drive a stake into it! All that will remain is increased hard money dontations. Senator Mitch McConnell deserves an medal.
The plan I knew about, and had been floated at the White House, involved three steps. 1) Attorney General Ashcroft issues an Opinion detailing the unconstitutionality of Shays-Meehan. 2) President Bush states flatly that the law is uncontitutional, but then signs it to force a judicial review. 3) Solicitor General Olson is directed not only to oppose the law, rather than support it (the usual role of the SG), but to file suit immediately for a preliminary injunction against any use of the law, by anyone, anywhere, until the Supreme Court ruled on it.
No reason to go into the details of the plan (which I got to read), because obviously the White House decided on a different course of action. The plan did offer a chance at getting the final Supreme Court decision BEFORE the November elections.
As it is, the case will be filed 6 November, 2002, on the effective date of the law. The final decision of the Supreme Court to declare the law unconstitutional, will come in may, 2003, give or take a few weeks.
The only guarantee I can offer is this: If we do not get this law declared unconstitutional, I will resign from the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. I feel that strongly about the issue, and about our odds of success.
FReepers, including you, my friend, have done all that you could, and your efforts have not been enough. Now it is time for the First Amendment attorneys to go to war. This will be my 17th and second most important brief in that Court. (Most important was the brief on the Bush case from Florida.)
I presume you wish me good hunting.
Congressman Billybob
Methinks our congresscritters are eliminating one right at a time. Heck, they have been attacking the 2nd and 10th amendments since the 60's.
Oh, btw, good morning guy.
5.56mm
Exactly correct! I ASSURE you that I will NOT let this fact go unnoticed!
This "reform" is so blatantly unconstitutional and so potentially damaging to the republic, that for W to sign it would be a violation of his oath to protect the constitution. Furthermore, political trigonometry aside, it is a violation of his own campaign promise NOT to sign it.
If W has 1% of integrity/backbone he'll veto this piece of crap the minute it clears the senate. To wait for the supremes to do his job is courting disaster.
Mark my words friend, the supremes will not flush this thing in toto, but will pick and choose what stays and what goes. That will require compromise and many loathsome provisions will become unremovable constitutional law.
The only answer is a principled veto.
Indeed! We wish you EVERY success in this matter but your, and others efforts in the courts, in NO way addresses the FACT that we have currently, at least 240 Congressmen, 60 Senators, and a President who either DO NOT UNDERSTAND the Constitution and their oaths of office or just don't GIVE A DAMN about either!
regards
I expect this from a Clinton, not Bush. Im disappointed at Bushs decision from a Constitutional standpoint, but I see JohnHuang2 sees that signing it could virtually kill CFR from here on out. I like Rush's idea and that is the only reform i would sign up for.
If I had known that he would repeatedly betray the principles he supposedly holds so dear, then turn his back on the Constitution I would not have frozen my ass off after election 2000 protesting Sore Loserman.
I believe we were insisting that the rule of law be applied. What a waste of time. Please...no bulls--t that Gore would have been worse.
There is nothing worse than pissing on the Constitution.
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