Unconstitutional Law

Will I vote for John McCain?  Highly likely. 

Am I supportive of all the positions he holds?  Absolutely not.

Professor Somin gives us a point by point run down on some of why campaign finance laws actually harm far more than they help - not to mention that they really are unconstitutional.  And - as we all know, campaign finance "reform" is something championed by McCain.

If voters were knowledgeable enough to tell the difference between "good" campaign finance laws and Trojan horses that benefit incumbents, there would probably be no need to worry about campaign finance in the first place. After all, a knowledgeable and attentive electorate could easily learn about the candidates and their policies from sources other than the candidates' 30 second sound bites and ads. For example, they could read newspaper reports, academic studies on the merits of opposing policy proposals, magazine articles, and so on. Campaign finance only matters because most voters are ignorant, and don't pay much attention to politics - thereby turning campaign ads into important sources of information because they are among the few such sources that many voters will actually see. But that very ignorance makes it highly unlikely that voters will know enough to punish politicians who enact incumbent-protecting campaign finance reforms.

Too many try to make a perfect world for us.  It's impossible.  Better to give us as much freedom as possible to express ourselves as we wish - and then let the chips fall where they may.  We may often have poor outcomes, as we too often observe.  Yet, at least they will be freely achieved - and ultimately can be correctable.  No guarantees that the massaged and managed outcome will be any better, either.  Often, it is much worse - as Somin's "unintended consequences" demonstrate.

UPDATE:  More from the Wall Street Journal.

Comments

[Greg]

This is off topic, but remember when you were sort of outraged by the fact that Keith Ellison had issue with some parking tickets in his past? It was the sort of thing you believed made him unfit for office when he was running in your home state. Although you had no issues with George W. Bush, drunk driving and cocaine, but let me not digress.

Well what do you think about your boy John McCain now?

McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years
http://www.newsweek.com/id/143775/

It seems that the McCain's have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are currently in default. This is one of the 7 homes they own, and yet Obama is the Elitist. Once again Republican never ceases to astonish me.

Again I apologize for being off topic, I do not want to become a troll.

[Peg]

You certainly assume an awful lot, Greg.

I take drunk driving incredibly seriously. When GWB was stopped for driving and having alcohol level of .10 he paid a fine and lost his license for a month. Why on earth would you think that I would "sluff this off" and not think it important? What is important is that GWB finally got into recovery for his alcoholism - as many others have done. Let's applaud him for doing what needed to be done in this regard, and hope that others with this affliction can, too. Thanks for bringing it up.

As for McCain - I read the article to which you linked. No evidence that it was not the government that "screwed up" with the wrong address. We cannot know. All we do know is that Mrs. McCain's trust is paying the amount due.

I'm not sure of how the McCain's handle all their finances. But - it is difficult for me to know how John McCain could have known what the bank was doing to handle his wife's family trust.

In any case - if you are looking for perfect politicians, you aren't going to find them in either party. What matters is some combination of the errors that they commit, how serious those errors are, and what the individuals try to do to correct them and make amends.

[Peg]

Greg - you might also wish to read this:

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/06/29/good-thing-spouses-are-off-the-table-right/