The Bozeman Daily Chronicle is, arguably, Montana’s most extreme pro-government publication. For years, the newspaper has poured out steady support for government control over political messaging under the auspices of campaign-finance regulation. (‘The private sector must never defend itself from regulation!’) It is rare that one reads the word “shadowy” outside the editorial pages of …
Category: Elections
Jan 20
Bozeman Chronicle Prints Headline Suggesting that “Coordinating” One’s Campaign with a Nonprofit Group is “Corruption”
The First Amendment protects political speech above all other forms of speech. But in Montana, there is a powerful movement of pro-government voices (not the least of which are the major newspapers) who support ever-more government control over political speech under the guise of “campaign finance regulation.” Montana politicians have been investigated by the government …
Jan 13
More shocking revelations from Wisconsin’s political police state
The public is largely oblivious to one of the biggest scandals in recent American political history. A tale that includes midnight raids by SWAT teams, machine guns brandished in the middle of the night, secret wiretaps of internet traffic, gag orders and secret evidence–aimed at suppressing inconvenient political movements. See here. And here. As many …
Jan 06
Americans say government is their biggest problem again
Gallup has been asking people about the biggest threat to their lives and livelihoods every month for some time. For the past two years, a vast majority have said they view government as their greatest problem. See here. When Gallup asked Americans what troubles them most and is the chief threat to our way of …
Dec 26
New Poll: Vast Majority of Americans view Big Government as their Greatest Threat
Gallup polling has just found that a supermajority of voters, 69 percent, view big government as the biggest threat in the future. Amazingly, even a majority of Democrats agree that big government is the greatest threat. Only a tiny extremist minority (25 percent) view big business as the greatest threat. See here.
Dec 21
Money is Speech. And this has been Known since at least 1830
by Roger I. Roots, Founder, Lysander Spooner University Over the past few years, I have become more interested in the topic of campaign finance laws, and how such laws interfere with freedom of speech. Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, there have been thousands of published proclamations that campaign speech freedom will bring …
Dec 14
Billionaires are Waking to the Fact that Political Spending Makes Little Difference.
It is one of the biggest myths of modern politics: that repetitive advertising (or the spending of campaign money in general) can ensure electoral victory. Every argument of “campaign finance reformers” is false. There is no (or almost no) correlation between campaign spending and victory. Only a slight number of voters (maybe 1, 2 or …
Nov 19
USA TODAY Reports that Government spends hundreds of millions on propaganda
Trusters of expansive government routinely seek to gut the First Amendment and allow the government to have more control over political messaging. The recurring claim is that political messaging funded by the private sector “buys” elections and produces undue influence. But total spending by government on political messaging almost certainly DWARFS total spending on political …
Oct 28
More Anti-Government Polling Data: Americans Prefer a Government Shutdown to Continuing Growth in Government Spending
Our masters in government never tire of reminding us that Congress must raise the debt ceiling and keep government growing. “Conservative” insiders say that voters will punish Republicans if Republicans in Congress ever challenge the President’s spending increases and “shut the government down.” But new polling shows–OVERWHELMINGLY–that a large majority of voters WOULD PREFER A …
Oct 24
ACLU: “Fixing” the Constitution to Overturn CITIZENS UNITED Would “Break the Constitution”
Many voices–who believe they are seeking “good government”–are calling for a constitutional amendment to give government the power to control political spending and advertising. But as the ACLU points out, such an amendment would fundamentally “break the Constitution” and overturn the most basic free-speech and press provisions of the First Amendment. See here.
