Reply #28: The purpose of the free speech clause of our First Amendment is to ensure that everyone [View All]

[Time for change]

has the opportunity to voice their opinions in a manner that has the potential to influence their government and therefore their lives. "Speech" is not meant to be simply an abstract concept. It was given pre-eminence in our First Amendment because of its potential to influence the operations of government.

In today's environment, money has come to have a disproportionate influence on the actions of our government. Recognizing that, Congress passed laws to limit the ability of money to influence elections and therefore the actions of our government. When our Supreme Court equates money with speech, that prohibits Congress's ability to limit the influence of money on our elections.

So the bottom line is that, since some people have orders of magnitude more money than others, and since our Supreme Court has equated money with speech, that means that some people have a very disproportionate right to speech in the area where it matters most -- in the ability to influence elections, and therefore the actions of government.

I call that a perversion of the concept of free speech. You don't think it is?