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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Emergency services A memorable year Unnatural corridor 5 Things to do This Weekend Get Up & Go: Jan. 1 Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency services Community blog: Mentoring=Crime Prevention Two Eagle Point men charged in Lake Creek Road poaching case MADGE bust at Medford Walmart nets meth, $20,000 in cash Drug raid in Rogue River leads to two arrests Politics and Elections Councilman stirs online dust-up with anti-marijuana post State certifies recount showing failure of GMO-labeling measure Time running out for O&C funds GMO vote recount still shows little change Education Traveling artist sets the stage for Ruch School amphitheater Ruch school class focuses on the natural environment Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Logos may offer students 'fifth year' at RCC or SOU St. Mary's plays host to youth robotics tournament Environment Monument expansion expected to increase tourism, protect resources Biologist resigns over LNG reporting failure Bird flu discovered in Winston backyard flock Jackson County holds back on enforcing GMO ban for now No fish, no funding for problem dams State News Oregon minimum wage rises to $9.25 Storm brings snow, cold to West Idaho shooting victim supported gun rights Dam problems force early fish transfer into Willamette Valley lakes Portland mattress stowaway cat back home Nation - World Obama makes Maduro’s ‘insolent Yankees’ line harder to sell Obituaries Dr. Kenneth Emerson Janet E. 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Our View: Help clear the air for the new year ... Two Eagle Point men charged in Lake Creek Road poaching case ... Unnatural corridor ... Our View: Help clear the air for the new year ... Two Eagle Point men charged in Lake Creek Road poaching case ... ANOTHER VIEW Extremism in defense of re-election Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Sep. 11, 2014 @ 12:01 am Posted Sep. 11, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News Since Barry Goldwater, accepting the Republicans' 1964 presidential nomination, said "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice," Democrats have been decrying Republican "extremism." Actually, although there is abundant foolishness and unseemliness in American politics, real extremism — measures or movements that menace the Constitution's architecture of ordered liberty — is rare. This week, however, extremism stained the Senate. Forty-eight members of the Democratic caucus attempted to do something never previously done — amend the Bill of Rights. They tried to radically shrink First Amendment protection of political speech. They evidently think extremism in defense of the political class's convenience is no vice. The First Amendment as the First Congress passed it, and the states ratified it 223 years ago, says: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." The 48 senators understand that this is incompatible — by its plain text, and in light of numerous Supreme Court rulings — with their desire to empower Congress and state legislatures to determine the permissible quantity, content and timing of political speech. Including, of course, speech by and about members of Congress and their challengers — as well as persons seeking the presidency or state offices. The 48 senators proposing to give legislators speech-regulating powers describe their amendment in anodyne language, as "relating to contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections." But what affects elections is speech, and the vast majority of contributions and expenditures are made to disseminate speech. The Democrats' amendment says: "Congress and the states may regulate and set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections," and may "prohibit" corporations — including nonprofit issue advocacy corporations (such as the Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice America and thousands of others across the political spectrum) from spending any  money "to influence elections," which is what most of them exist to do. Because all limits will be set by incumbent legislators, the limits deemed "reasonable" will surely serve incumbents' interests. The lower the limits, the more valuable will be the myriad (and unregulated) advantages of officeholders. The point of this "improvement" of James Madison's First Amendment is to reverse the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. It left in place the ban on corporate contributions to candidates . It said only that Americans do not forfeit their speech rights when they band together to express themselves on political issues  through corporations, which they generally do through nonprofit advocacy corporations. Floyd Abrams, among the First Amendment's most distinguished defenders, notes that the proposed amendment deals only  with political money that funds speech. That it would leave political speech less protected than pornography, political protests at funerals, and Nazi parades. That by aiming to equalize the political influence of persons and groups, it would reverse the 1976 Buckley decision joined by such champions of free expression as Justices William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall and Potter Stewart. That one reason President Harry Truman vetoed the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act was that he considered its ban on corporations and unions making independent expenditures to affect federal elections a "dangerous intrusion on free speech." And that no Fortune 100 corporation "appears to have contributed even a cent to any of the 10 highest-grossing super PACs in either the 2010, 2012 or 2014 election cycles." There are not the 67 Democratic senators and 290 Democratic representatives necessary to send this amendment to the states for ratification. The mere proposing of it, however, has usefully revealed the senators who are eager to regulate speech about themselves: Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Mark Begich (Ark.) , Michael Bennet (Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Cory Booker (N.J.) , Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Benjamin Cardin (Md.), Thomas Carper (Del.), Robert Casey (Pa.), Christopher Coons (Del.) , Richard Durbin (Ill.) , Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Al Franken (Minn.) , Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kay Hagan (N.C.) , Tom Harkin (Iowa), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Johnson (S.D.), Angus King (Maine), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Carl Levin (Mich.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Edward Markey (Mass.) , Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Robert Menendez (N.J.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) , Barbara Mikulski (Md.), Christopher Murphy (Conn.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Jack Reed (R.I.) , Harry Reid (Nev.), John Rockefeller (W.Va.), Bernard Sanders (Vt.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii) , Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) , Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Udall (Colo.) , John Walsh (Mont.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Ron Wyden (Ore.). The italicized names are of senators on the ballot this November. But all 48 Senate co-sponsors are American rarities — real extremists. George Will's email address is [email protected]. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Sep. 11, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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