No offense to the Admiral (should've never been elected) John McCain, but he should've quit while he was ahead.
My take on McCain-Feingold One as a means to reduce corruption in the electoral process is that it didn't work (remember 527s?), and needs to be repealed. All that's necessary to keep corruption in check is to have a free press that is encouraged to expose corruption, and the voters will do the rest.
McCain-Feingold II is in the works, and the Federal Election Commission is testing the waters for it by threatening bloggers. It seems that bloggers have been recognized for the political force that they really are, since a blogger linking to a candidate's URL will now be cause for the candidate to have to file an amended campaign finance document TO ACCOUNT FOR THE MONETARY VALUE OF THE BLOGGER'S SUPPORT.
McCain-Feingold. Hawley-Smoot. Has there ever been a hyphenated law name that did anything but damage to our Republic? Some straight names: the McCarran Act, the Monroe Doctrine have strengthened it.
Hmmm...come to think of it, are there any conservatives at all with hyphenated names?
Scoot your boots over to Snugg Harbor, and let Guy tell you about McCain-Feingold. "All enemies foreign and domestic". Yes, I swore that same oath. Yes, I feel that we do have domestic enemies that might call that oath into play.
Yes, I, too, know how to defend against those domestic enemies.
Now YOU know why the Second Amendment is positioned in the Bill of Rights so conveniently after the First. When said Domestic Enemies abound, the machinery of the two Amendments WORKING TOGETHER may be required to keep the Ship of State on an even keel.
The Founders thought so.
I think so, too.
UPDATE: 030705 0800 PST: This has turned into a BlogStorm. It should. If we bloggers don't get out the word that we're not going to be left out of the First Amendment, and subjected to fines and blog-closures like both MC-F2 and a Federal Court propose, then it's time to hit the streets. Those streets may run with the blood of bloggers, but I am certain that the Feds can't shut us down as fast as we can put new blogs up to hammer them with.
"Aux Barricades, mes amis!"
The virtual barricades are here. There is a symbol of an unbowed blogger, the "Blag Flag", which I will try to install as soon as I sign the pledge. I'll do better than that. Being retired, I have lots of time, so I'm off to practice medium range riflery....
You are correct sir. The first and second amendment, taken in concert with each other, is the way to go. That the first is almost always the best way to go in reaching a resolution, and the one most often used in one form or another, should not cause us or (more importantly)"the powers that be" forget why and what, the second is there for.
Posted by: Guy S. | March 07, 2005 at 15:16