Money and Free Speech

Money and Free Speech PDF Author: Melvin I. Urofsky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
Money greases the wheels of American politics from the local level to the White House. In the 2004 presidential campaign, President George W. Bush alone raised nearly $400 million in private and public funds—nearly twenty times the combined total raised by John Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960—to defeat challenger John F. Kerry, further fueling anxiety over the power of money to dictate political results. Melvin Urofsky, one of our nation's most respected legal historians, takes a fresh look at efforts to rein in campaign spending and counter efforts in the courts to preserve the status quo. He offers a thoughtful and balanced overview of campaign finance reform and the legal responses to it, from the Progressive era through the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in McConnell v. FEC (2003) and its impact on the 2004 election. Urofsky focuses especially on the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act and 2002 McCain-Feingold or Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), and on challenges to both in the Supreme Court. In Buckley v. Valeo (1976), the Court upheld contribution limits but struck down expenditure caps on First Amendment grounds. In McConnell it upheld the key provisions of McCain-Feingold. In both cases, however, opponents argued that congressional control of campaign financing was an unconstitutional infringement of the free speech rights of campaign contributors. Urofsky deftly steers the reader through this contentious and complex history, revealing how both Congress and the courts have navigated uneasily between the Scylla of potential corruption and the Charybdis of suppressing political speech. Ironically, despite the Court's decision upholding McCain-Feingold, the 2004 presidential election was the most expensive in history—because, as Urofsky notes, money is the mother's milk of politics and both candidates and donors will always find ways to keep it flowing. His book provides an excellent and succinct guide to the controversies and historical debates emerging from that fact.

The Art of Hunger

The Art of Hunger PDF Author: Alys Moody
Publisher: Oxford University Press (UK)
ISBN: 0198828896
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Book Description
When we think of writers today, we often think of them as thin and poor-as starving artists. This book traces the history of this idea, and asks why hunger has been such a compelling metaphor for thinking about writing in modern times.

Capitalism v. Democracy

Capitalism v. Democracy PDF Author: Timothy K. Kuhner
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804791589
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
As of the latest national elections, it costs approximately $1 billion to become president, $10 million to become a Senator, and $1 million to become a Member of the House. High-priced campaigns, an elite class of donors and spenders, superPACs, and increasing corporate political power have become the new normal in American politics. In Capitalism v. Democracy, Timothy Kuhner explains how these conditions have corrupted American democracy, turning it into a system of rule that favors the wealthy and marginalizes ordinary citizens. Kuhner maintains that these conditions have corrupted capitalism as well, routing economic competition through political channels and allowing politically powerful companies to evade market forces. The Supreme Court has brought about both forms of corruption by striking down campaign finance reforms that limited the role of money in politics. Exposing the extreme economic worldview that pollutes constitutional interpretation, Kuhner shows how the Court became the architect of American plutocracy. Capitalism v. Democracy offers the key to understanding why corporations are now citizens, money is political speech, limits on corporate spending are a form of censorship, democracy is a free market, and political equality and democratic integrity are unconstitutional constraints on money in politics. Supreme Court opinions have dictated these conditions in the name of the Constitution, as though the Constitution itself required the privatization of democracy. Kuhner explores the reasons behind these opinions, reveals that they form a blueprint for free market democracy, and demonstrates that this design corrupts both politics and markets. He argues that nothing short of a constitutional amendment can set the necessary boundaries between capitalism and democracy.

Outspoken

Outspoken PDF Author: Adrian Parr
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0228018226
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
In a world of increasing right-wing populism, global capitalism, and a climate emergency, leading thinkers come together to interrogate the meaning and practice of being outspoken. The violence, nativism, persecution, and social hostilities of the twenty-first century demand a call to order: philosophical and theoretical communities must commit their intellectual resources to confronting and articulating the structures, desires, and resentment driving the dismantling of democratic values. Action in the absence of understanding and political vision devoid of inclusive ideas are all the more vulnerable to taking a reactionary turn. Contributors to this volume challenge the return of fascism, dehumanization of immigrants, distrust of science, intolerance of fair and equitable economic models, and suspicion of inclusive political platforms. All, in their own way, tackle the burning question of how we might reimagine twenty-first-century life in the face of divisive forces. Outspoken includes essays by some of the world’s most radical thinkers – Rosi Braidotti, Henry A. Giroux, Amelia Jones, and Slavoj Žižek, among others – who together chart multiple progressive courses for political antagonism and social intervention.

Being Numerous

Being Numerous PDF Author: Natasha Lennard
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1788734602
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
An urgent challenge to the prevailing moral order from one of the freshest, most compelling voices in radical politics today Being Numerous shatters the mainstream consensus on politics and personhood, offering in its place a bracing analysis of a perilous world and how we should live in it. Beginning with an interrogation of what it means to fight fascism, Natasha Lennard explores the limits of individual rights, the criminalization of political dissent, the myths of radical sex, and the ghosts in our lives. At once politically committed and philosophically capacious, Being Numerous is a revaluation of the idea that the personal is political, and situates as the central question of our time—How can we live a non-fascist life?

Transformations of the New Germany

Transformations of the New Germany PDF Author: R. Starkman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403984662
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
This collection demonstrates the persistence of the initial anxieties about a united Germany and its rapid absorption of the German Democratic Republic, and also suggests a potential optimism that, despite much contemporary domestic disenchantment, the new Germany continues to thrive as a European democracy endeavouring to confront its past.

Big Money Unleashed

Big Money Unleashed PDF Author: Ann Southworth
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022683073X
Category : Campaign funds
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
The story of how the First Amendment became an obstacle to campaign finance regulation--a history that began much earlier than most imagine. Americans across party lines believe that public policy is rigged in favor of those who wield big money in elections. Yet, legislators are restricted in addressing these concerns by a series of Supreme Court decisions finding that campaign finance regulations violate the First Amendment. Big Money Unleashed argues that our current impasse is the result of a long-term process involving many players. Naturally, the justices played critical roles--but so did the attorneys who hatched the theories necessary to support the legal doctrine, the legal advocacy groups that advanced those arguments, the wealthy patrons who financed these efforts, and the networks through which they coordinated strategy and held the Court accountable. Drawing from interviews, public records, and archival materials, Big Money Unleashed chronicles how these players borrowed a litigation strategy pioneered by the NAACP to dismantle racial segregation and used it to advance a very different type of cause.

Money in American Politics

Money in American Politics PDF Author: David Schultz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440851778
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Book Description
How much does money really matter in American politics? A first-of-its-kind reference book, this encyclopedia provides the most up-to-date research and analysis regarding how money affects American campaigns, elections, politics, and public policy. Some Americans have come to the conclusion that U.S. politics is dominated by money, that politicians are frequently if not routinely "bought and paid for," and that the only entities who wield political power are America's monied "elite" or powerful special interests like "big labor" or "Wall Street." But other American citizens believe that proposals to limit the influence of money in politics run counter to the free speech principles enshrined in the Constitution. This book will explores this compelling and controversial issue, examining where money in American politics comes from, where it goes, and the impact of all of those millions of dollars on American society. The entries objectively cover a breadth of major issues, organizations, individuals, court cases, and controversies surrounding the role of money in American politics, especially into the most recent events of the 21st century. Commentary by leading experts and scholars on American politics assess different aspects of how money is used for political purposes. The book explains the current state of knowledge about money in politics, including whether contributions and expenditures should be regulated; if so, how; and whether it even matters in terms of impact. While intended and written primarily for students at the high school and undergraduate levels, Money in American Politics: An Encyclopedia will also be of interest to general readers and experts looking to better understand how money affects campaigns, elections, and the making of law and policy in the United States.

Voting in America

Voting in America PDF Author: Robert E. DiClerico
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1576079325
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
A thorough examination of the people, forces, and events that have shaped the right, opportunity, and value of the vote in America from 1715 to the present. Despite the successful struggles of women, blacks, soldiers, and other minorities to secure suffrage, voter turnout in America is among the lowest in westernized countries. Voting in America: A Reference Handbook surveys the history of voting, examining how it has evolved since Colonial times. This book focuses on how various legal, constitutional, and social barriers such as the Voter Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act, the Motor Voter Act, and the 23rd Amendment have impacted the right to vote. It also focuses on what controversies, such as the two-party monopoly and financial influence, still remain. The only book to consider the rise in voting opportunities for Americans also explores factors affecting the value of the vote, such as redistricting, term limits, and low voter turnout.

So Much for Democracy

So Much for Democracy PDF Author: United States Supreme Court
Publisher: Nimble Books LLC
ISBN: 1608880214
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
This is the complete printed text of the opinions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decision that President Obama specifically singled out for sharp criticism in the 2010 State of the Union address because of the wide latitude that it gives to corporations to flood political campaigns with money. There's no substitute for reading the full text of vital documents. This is the most readable format for doing so.
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