As you
may recall, President Obama took the opportunity of his 2010 State of the Union
message to cross the line of civility and independence of the judiciary to
accuse the Supreme Court of having corrupted the political process through the Citizens United ruling. He is, of course, entitled to disagree with
any Supreme Court ruling, however attacking members of the Court during his
State of the Union message was unbecoming, at best. To put the best possible construction on it,
his attack was unfounded. Specifically,
he asserted that Citizens United
would allow foreign contributions into the American political process. Of course, he should know something about
foreign contributions since his 2008 campaign illegally accepted a number of
them. In fact, however, his attack was
false. Citizens United does not allow foreign contributions to American
political candidates. I don’t think he should
get a pass on ignorance of the law as an attorney, a Constitutional lecturer,
or as President with access to many attorneys.
Of course, the media did just that.
They gave him a pass on his completely inaccurate statement. There was
no critical review or questioning of the truth of his intemperate and
uninformed attack.
More
recently the argument has been made that Scott Walker’s victory was made
possible by the Citizens United
decision. Is this distortion a matter of
intentional dissembling or plain ignorance?
It’s hard to tell, but it’s embarrassing to have men and women who hold
themselves up as intelligent and informed to report such an untruth. It’s either a willful political fabrication,
or it is gross ignorance—take your choice.
In a
June 10, 2012 opinion piece in the Wall
Street Journal, former federal Judge Michael McConnell set the record
straight. What Judge McConnell reveals
is 180 degrees opposite from what the major news media reported following the
overwhelming victory of Scott Walker. To
wit, the Citizens United ruling by
the US Supreme Court stated that…
“…associations of Americans, including corporations and labor unions,
have a First Amendment right to make independent expenditures in support of or opposition
to candidates for public office.”
Contrary
to what the mainstream media reported, Governor Scott Walker did not receive a
huge outpouring a support from corporations.
It did not happen. However,
thanks to Citizens United the unions
were freed up to donate millions of dollars to defeat Governor Walker. Quoting Judge McConnell…
“Labor
unions poured money into the state to recall Mr. Walker. According to the Center for Public Integrity,
the NEA (National Education Association), the nation’s largest teachers union,
spent at least $1 million. Its smaller
union rival, the AFT (American Federation of Teachers), spent an additional
$350,000. Two other unions the SEIU
(Service Employees International Union, which has more than one million
government workers) and AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees), spent another $2 million.
Little or none of these independent expenditures endorsing a candidate
would have been legal under federal law before Citizens United.”
In
other words, the Citizens United
decision by the US Supreme Court actually aided those trying to oust Governor
Scott Walker more than it aided those supporting Scott Walker. It turns out that the vast majority of
support that Governor Walker received came from small donations from those in
Wisconsin and all across the nation. It
was truly a citizens uprising in the best sense and best tradition of
America. His support didn’t come from
rowdies who defaced and vandalized the Wisconsin State Capitol. It didn’t come from a mob that tried to
intimidate state legislators with whom they disagreed. It didn’t come from disorderly agitators who
harassed the families of state legislators and the family of Governor
Walker. The response to the angry recall
effort spearheaded by the union bosses was rebuffed by peaceful, law-abiding
citizens who exercised their right to participate in the political
process. They overwhelmingly endorsed
the practical, rational, and realistic actions of the Governor and those
supporting him to set state finances on a sustainable and balanced course. Their vote was not only a reflection of the
Tea Party revolt of 2010, but also a harbinger of what you and I can expect
this coming November.
There
are honest liberals. I know several of
them. What bothers me is their lack of
outrage at the unprofessional, one sided approach of the mainstream media. If you are an honest liberal do you really
want news reporters who either cannot understand or intentionally distort legal
cases such as Citizens United? Do you not see anything wrong with that? Are you not embarrassed to see either
ignorance or willful distortion of truth?
Do you not care about the lack of integrity in the news media? If you are willing to look the other way, the
implicit conclusion one must draw is that you believe that the end justifies
the means.
Citizens United is a
rather clear cut, easy to understand legal decision. Liberals certainly have a right to disagree
with the decision, but do they expect us to take them seriously when educated
reporters distort the meaning of the decision?If it was a conservative who was
doing such a thing I would turn them off, tune them out, and scold them for
bringing dishonor and embarrassment upon the conservative cause. Where is the embarrassment on the left? Where are the honorable liberals scolding
their brethren for such a breach of integrity or failure of understanding?
Here is
the conclusion of Judge McConnell in his Wall
Street Journal piece…
“His
[Walker’s] opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, got his support primarily
from labor unions, whose participation was legitimized by Citizens United. Without that decision so demonized by the
political left, Mr. Barrett would have been at even more of a financial
disadvantage.”
“Speaking
generally, Citizens United is likely to benefit Democrats more than
Republicans. Corporations rarely make
independent expenditures during candidate elections in their own name, because
ads offend customers, workers and shareholders.
And direct corporate contributions to candidates tend to be split more
or less evenly between the two parties, largely neutralizing their effect.”
I find
it to be extremely frustrating that the left is not committed to honesty,
fairness, and objectivity in news reporting.
No one expects a reporter to be perfectly unbiased. We are all affected by our personal history
and personal experiences. No one is
perfect and in fact, no one is more perfect than the next person. However, an attempt to be objective and
truthful should be the least we can expect from our news media. And let me be perfectly clear, I am talking
about those who purport to report the news, not opinion columnists and talk
show hosts whose publicized intent is to convey their opinions, backed up by
facts. I am referring solely to those
charged with making an honest attempt to present the news in a fair, balanced and
objective manner.
When
there is no attempt to be honest in public discourse and there is an
unwillingness to calmly, rationally, and intelligently discuss different points
of view, democracy suffers. Too often
the left resorts to name calling when they are unable to defend their political
position. Instead of accepting the fact
that the other side has just as good of intentions as they do, is just as
smart, and has ideas worth considering, they start slandering their opponents. They charge racism, sexism, and
who-knows-what-else “ism” because they are apparently unable to frame a cogent
and persuasive argument on behalf of their opinion.
Until
and unless we have liberals willing to stop the slander and instead argue their
case on its merits, there will be no civil discourse in America. The ball is in their court. If you want to talk about quality education,
school choice must be in the discussion.
If you want to talk about providing entry level jobs to the poor, then
the elimination of minimum wage laws must be considered. If you want to talk about restoring and
rebuilding families in poor areas, then encouraging nuclear families must be on
the table. If economics is the topic, a
rational discussion of the importance of balancing the budget and spending only
what you have is in order. If you want
to advance environment issues you must be open to a fair and honest scientific
debate. Whether the issue is safety,
child discipline, transportation, welfare, the environment, or any other topic,
progress will be made only if the name calling stops and serious discussion
begins. Without intellectual honesty
there can be no meeting of the minds.
And as
long as honest liberals look the other way when more radical brethren
intentionally distort or are intellectually unable to distinguish the truth,
our ability to arrive at the best solutions will be permanently impaired. I suspect it is a fear that their ideas will
not triumph in honest debate that drives liberals and radicals to slander their
opponents and to discard their sense of justice and honesty. Vandalism, occupying property, and other
disorderly conduct is an indictment of bankrupt ideas, not a sign of “democracy in action” as one leftist
teacher at the Wisconsin State Capitol put it.
You and
I both know that the end never justifies the means. We know that slander is simply wrong. We know that not telling the truth is simply a lie. We know that
breaking the law or acting as bullies should not be a part of the political
process. We should expect no less from
our political opponents.
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