John McCain has the most curious take yet on the infinitely strange 2000 presidential election. According to McCain, the election gave him a "mandate" for his version of campaign finance reform.
This from an election that didn't even confer a mandate on the eventual winner, the guy who actually became president.
McCain has stirred consternation among national and local Republicans for pushing campaign finance reform rather than clearing the field for President Bush's agenda.
The real problem is what McCain proposes and its incompatibility with liberty.
McCain is attempting to navigate very narrow straits the U.S. Supreme Court has carved out. The court has created a distinction between campaign contributions, on which it has permitted some limited restrictions, and expenditures, which it has said cannot be limited. And between speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate, on which it has permitted some regulation, and anything else, which it has said enjoys constitutional protection.
McCain is correct that these distinctions have collapsed in practice. And so, he proposes that political parties be barred from establishing so-called soft money accounts, which raise money outside the campaign contribution limits to fund ads that clearly are meant to influence the outcome of an election even though they do not engage in express advocacy as the court has defined it.
And he wants to prohibit corporations — including issue-oriented nonprofits — and unions from television advertising that promotes or supports a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, even if it falls short of express advocacy. Some nonprofits would be permitted to advertise during the blackout period using separate funds provided for the purpose by individual contributions.
In a free society, people should have the right to express themselves about elections. And they should have the right to spend their money to support views and candidates they support. And they should have the right to associate with others for collective political action.
The bottom line is that John McCain wants some people to just shut up while elections take place.
That's probably not constitutional.
Regardless, in a free society, it is fundamentally wrong.
E-mail Robert Robb at bob.robb@arizonarepublic.com