So Bitter and I have some flyers we’ve made up, that we were looking to distribute. The one obstacle is that I’m not sure whether I’d be running afoul of campaign finance laws by doing so. If you believe you live in a free country, where it’s perfectly lawful to use any electioneering speech you damned please to help defeat your Congressman, and replace him with someone who you feel will represent you better, you would be mistaken. A quick perusal of federal campaign finance statutes will remove any notion of that very quickly. This is not a system that’s designed to encourage participation of an active and engaged citizenry. It’s a system designed to leave electioneering to professionals. This is not a way to encourage a healthy Republic. The sad part is, I think the people in power know this, and don’t care. It helps them.
I’m pretty sure our fliers, which we would be distributing as private citizens, do not run afoul of finance regulations. But you know, I’m not sure. The fact that I signed up to be an Election Volunteer Coordinator with the NRA might complicate things. I shouldn’t have to hire a lawyer to tell me whether or not I have free speech. I am very tempted to put in lettering, underneath:
This Message was Approved by James Madison
It’s going to be very hard pulling the lever in the fall for that bastard McCain, who foisted much of this nonsense on us. The only reason I can even begin to get by it, is because he had a lot of help in crafting this turd stew. The recipe of this disaster might have brewed in McCain’s head, but it was Bush that added the corn, and Supreme Court that added the peanuts. Mmm mmm. It’s election year 2008, and we’re all going to have to take a big bite!
Dude … that is hardly appetizing. Might as well get used to the nausea though, it’s clearly not going to end any time soon.
Love the “… Approved by James Madison” line – unfortunately, I suspect a lot of people won’t know who the hell he is. More people know Paris Hilton. How sad is that!
Maybe I should avoid the poop imagery right before lunch. It’s hard, though, when talking about politicians and politics.
Who the hell puts peanuts in their stew??
OOOOOOH TURD STEW!!! Got it.
I shouldn’t have to hire a lawyer to tell me whether or not I have free speech.
You’re just now figuring this out?!? And you are no closer to that line?
Most people don’t understand campaign finance law, or why it’s bad. The media aren’t doing their jobs on it, and why should they? They are exempt from the law. If people really understood what campaign finance did, they’d be against it. But no one has told them.
I’m not going to resort to shooting people, when merely explaining it to them will suffice to get them on my side.
I think that the people that might need shooting and the ones that need campaign finance (and other things) explained are two different groups.
True, but if you can convince the one group, they might get mad enough to give the boot to the other group, negating the need to shoot anyone.
As a fellow Pennsylvanian I would like to see the flier. You have a great blog here, I think I got here through PAFOA.
I long ago realized I may need a lawyer in order to tell me if I have free speech, but I just remember my God given rights as laid out in the Constitution and I take comfort knowing that if this government is going to take me to court for free speech it will give me a chance to expose their true colors to the American public. Never fear, as long as we have the 2nd Amendment we can ensure the first.
Anyway, back to my original purpose, anyway we could see the flier?
Anthony
And if you start shooting the other group, the first will only be convinced you had the wrong position.
So, now, even more people are against your position and you’re dead to boot. Yep, there’s a plan.
But, if the shooting started….I think you’d be past trying to reason and change their minds….no?