When Money Talks: The High Price of"Free" Speech and the Selling of Democracy

Summary

We're no longer conducting elections, we're holding auctions. Longtime activist and former political candidate Derek Cressman shows how we can return free speech to the people, not the biggest bankroll. Now that the Supreme Court has equated money with speech and thrown out campaign spending limits, Americans want to know what they can do about it. Derek Cressman gives them the tools, both ideological and tactical, to fight back. Cressman points out that there's nothing inherently unconstitutional in limiting speech. We do it all the time-for example, cities control when and where demonstrations can take place, or how long people can speak at council meetings. More importantly, he argues that while you choose to patronize Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal when they exercise their free speech rights, political advertising is forced upon you. It's paid speech-not at all what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment. Cressman looks at why attempts to limit paid political speech have failed so far, what a constitutional amendment limiting paid speech should say, and explains how citizens can use an overlooked political tool to help gain its passage. Seven times in our history we've passed constitutional amendments to overturn wrongheaded rulings by the Court-there's no reason we can't do it again.