The editorial “In Our View: PACs add to doubts about democratic system” (The Columbian, Aug. 1) was on point, but “doubt” was too mild to describe the issue. I won’t use my expletive, suffice it to say I believe the untethered ability of PACs to pour money into politics is the death-knell of democracy.
Various court findings have said that spending money is free speech. The need to spend money on print, airwaves, telecast, etc., costs money, ergo the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and that cannot be limited. This, added to the courts finding that corporations are persons, allows PACs to have an unlimited ability to spend money on campaigns.
Can this be fixed? Since spending money equates to free speech, that is a tough one, tougher than determining that corporations do not have the same rights as people. Minimally, every dime that is donated should be publicly posted within one hour of being made, with today’s technology that is easy to do, but does nothing to stop the flow of dollars.
Short of a constitutional amendment, I see little hope that our democracy will be nothing more than the best the most money can buy.
