The
following was written in November 2013 as a response to the
questionnaire for federal candidates seeking an endorsement from the
Liberty Caucus of the Republican Conference (i.e., the Republican
Party).
Here is the link to the original questionnaire:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwi.rlc.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F05%2FFederal-Candidate-Questionnaire.doc&ei=u3B8UqXbBqPiiwL2ioCoDg&usg=AFQjCNHAzM58Dr-APGVchRKzOkVV0TKRyw&sig2=qStOgZ0RAgXVAbnHi2kFtw
This is my answer to Question #4.
4.
B and D
(Federal
electoral campaign contributions and expenditures should be reported
and publicly disclosed by state governments not financed and
controlled by the Federal Election Commission, nor protected as free
speech)
The
federal government has no enumerated constitutional authority to
regulate campaign contributions and expenditures, so there is no
constitutional precedent for campaign contributions to be (A)
financed and controlled by the Federal Election Commission.
This means that the right to make contributions to electoral campaigns
should be (D)
restricted only by state governments.
I
do not believe that campaign contributions are (C) protected
free speech; I believe that campaign contribution is commercial
business activity. The 1st Amendment protects the
right to non-violent spoken and written self-expression, including
political speech and writing, but the absolute freedom of expression
is not enumerated in the 1stAmendment, so the notion that
campaign contribution is political expression and therefore protected
speech is invalid.
The
purpose of the free speech clause of the 1st Amendment
is to prohibit the federal government from making laws which inhibit
the freedom of speech and writing which are not fraudulent,
treasonous, slanderous, or libelous; the 1st Amendment
is designed to protect political speech. An interpretation of the
1st Amendment
which protects the right to unlimited, undisclosed campaign
contributions does not protect political speech.
I
would support passing a constitutional amendment which requires any
entity classified as a corporate person - whether an individual, a
corporation, a labor union, a governmental agency, or some other
organization - to have both the freedom of trade associated with
corporation status and the responsibilities associated with humanity
(in addition to responsibilities to investors as the public), such as
the responsibility to provide restitution for fraud, and the
responsibility to be transparent about campaign donations.
In
summary, while the only solution which is currently constitutional
is (D)
restriction on a state-by-state basis, I
would support abolishing the F.E.C., and I would propose a
constitutional amendment which explicitly authorizes the federal
government to restrict campaign contributions and expenditures as
commercial business activity,
by requiring (B)
the reporting and public disclosure of
federal electoral campaign contributions and expenditures.
For
more entries on election studies, please visit:
A blog on the finance is great to read all about it.Thanks for the blog on finance.
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