Almost Classical

I'm really tired of the canard that money suddenly has an outsized influence in politics. Plenty of studies show that money follows likely winners, but doesn't determine the winners of elections. More importantly, this September 7, 2014 column by Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico and Bernie Sanders of Vermont ignores the most basic of all questions… http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/the-threat-to-american-democracy-110683.html In 2010, the Supreme Court issued a disastrous 5-4 opinion striking down major parts of a 2002 campaign-finance reform law in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This case and subsequent rulings, including McCutcheon v. FEC, have led to the explosion of outside money in elections through so-called super PACs. In the 2012 election, we quickly saw the results — 32 major super PAC donors combined to give more money than the millions of ordinary Americans who donated less than $200 each to Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. More than 60 pe...

I have added texts of the Founding Documents to this blog, as static pages. I have formatted these quickly, to post them with minimal delay. In coming months, I will add some commentary to these documents and important historical facts that clarify the intentions of the Founders and of the authors of various Constitutional Amendments. The process of adding comments and historical clarifications will be ongoing. I will also tackle larger issues in regular blog posts. Please, read these documents from time to time. It's good to refresh our collective memories.