Who is Publius? or, Who's Afraid of Anonymous Political Speech?

[bradfleming88]

It's wrong to compare The Federalist Papers with the result of Citizens United. The Federalist is about giving voice to every man and woman, no matter how small. Citizens United is dangerous because it muffles the voice (money) of the average American. Now, a few individuals/corporations can change an election by donating unlimited amounts and not having to be accountable for it.

[Redeye1524]

@cyc3chip That pretty much sums up the left better than I've ever heard it

[KidsEDU]

Publius:

Pubelius

[mrgactivation]

Our money comes from italy

[klingoncelt]

The ads are coming from India, from the UAE, from Israel, from China, from everywhere the multinationals like BP operate. That's right, foreign corporations are buying air time for our elections. Would the founding fathers approve?

[gamewizard]

@klingoncelt

Get off the kool aid. It's a bad trip. 

[klingoncelt]

@gamewizard - I'm not wrong. You are. The money for the ads came from outside the U.S. But hey, keep on with the fantasy, live in your dreamworld that everything will go your way and the multinationals weren't simply exploiting your gullibility.

[gamewizard]

@klingoncelt

Proof? No? Then just shut up. Show the proof other than an article from Politico or the Huffington Post or some other left biased source.

[klingoncelt]

@gamewizard - You're afraid or too lazy to look it up yourself? Think others reading this will take your word for fact, even though you've done nothing to suggest you have any credibility?

They can check for themselves.

[gamewizard]

@klingoncelt

I don't have to look it up. You are the one who came on here ranting about political contributions coming from foreign countries. In America the burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused, so where's your proof that this is happening? You can't produce any, can you?

[klingoncelt]

@gamewizard - Accordin to Factcheck(dot)org and every RELIABLE news agency the Chamber freely admits to taking money from foreign entities. The Chamber has provided no evidence whatsoever that foreign and domestic monies were separated.

ANYONE calling themself a "patriot" should be deeply distressed that foreign entities are running OUR elections.

[gamewizard]

@klingoncelt

I can't believe you're actually quoting from an article that DEBUNKS the rumor that foreign money is poured into our elections. Try reading the ENTIRE article and try to comprehend it a little better.

[Carpus100]

@cyc3chip : Brilliant analysis! The right, of course, is a fount of coherent argument. They would never support THEY'RE arguments by calling people names!

[Carpus100]

"Pooblius"? Geez guys, maybe if you live in medieval England (in which case it would be pooblioos), but around these parts we say 'Pub-lee-us".

[littlebier8]

I read Letters from a Kentucky Farmer, myself.

[uttles]

LOL, the ironic thing about this is that Publius was probably Hamilton and Hamilton isn't exactly a friend of liberty. (Check out "Hamilton's Curse" by DiLorenzo). Still a funny ad though, well done!

[Knoss]

@uttles Who is Cato?  Who is Federal Farmer? Who is Brutus?

[DukeLacroix]

Progressives are fascists at heart.

[gamewizard]

Justice Scalia summed it up best when he said (and I'm paraphrasing for brevity) the first amendment is about the content of speech, not the identity of the speaker. Further, there is no distinction in the first amendment separating speech by an individual from speech by groups of individuals, including those organized in the form of a corporation.

[downsizedc]

Great video, and the accompanying essay is one of the best presentations of the issue we've seen.

[oTANSTAAFLo]

Brilliant video, gents.

[sharrynuk]

Exactly. Why should Americans have a monopoly on political speech? If Chinese companies want to elect a certain candidate, or if Saudi royalty wants to influence a particular policy, why shouldn't they be able spend millions of dollars on advertising, covertly? And why shouldn't guys like George Soros or the Koch brothers be allowed to secretly fund organizations that will then pretend to be grassroots movements? There are too many ordinary Americans in American politics.

[Knoss]

@sharrynuk why not indeed. After all they do not have the right to vote and the AMerican people have the right to listen or not listen to whomever they wish, no matter how expensive the campaign.

[jcruenv]

Publius = Elvis

[averagejoe040]

Great Vid ! This is the best of ReasonTV !

[checkmate110]

The average "progressive" voter doesn't know OF the federalist papers, let alone their authors...

[gamewizard]

@checkmate110

Oh, they know of them well enough, they just want to bury them so nobody will ever know how this country is SUPPOSED to be.

[Lonewacko]

How ironic. I've been viciously smeared by commenters at Reason, and just for showing how they're wrong. Libertarians used fascistic means to silence debate (remove the spaces around the dot):

24ahead . com/s/reason-magazine

I doubt whether that would have happened if commenters had been required to publish either their real name or a domain name or organization.

Also, nowadays, we've got astroturfing and other techniques that weren't possible then.

[studentofsmith]

@Lonewacko You are correct that anonymity can bring out the worst in people but it can also protect people from intimidation. That's why there's a secret ballot and protection for whistle blowers.

[rumco]

@Lonewacko Care to elaborate on fascistic means and why would anyone need to disclose their name against their will?

[kyleb2112]

Freakin' brilliant.

[3tcpx]

PUBLIUS DID 9/11!!!! GET THE TRUTH OUT!!!

[Salford999Red]

@cyc3chip - Exactly. Where will MoveON, SEIU, Organizaing for America, Code Pink protest if they don't know the addresses of the people behind the adverts. Thats the main reason why the left is having issues with disclosure.

[Salford999Red]

Genius. Pure advertising genius.

[catobear1704]

Cato's Letters, as well.

[TCoop6231]

Brilliant.

[betodesign101]

folks. we r living under a tyranny controlled by mandarins.

[xp19375]

I cannot think for myself. I base my vote solely on political ads. Now the corporations control me and my vote. Thanks a lot, SCOTUS!

[tkullervo]

OMG! I SAW A POLITICAL AD FROM AN EVIL CORPORATION AND LOST MY FREE WILL

[Wcoltd]

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, THEY ARE ALIVE!

It doesn't matter who says something, what matters is what is being said.

[megagagnon1]

I was under the impression that the Citizen's United v. FEC gave corporations a huge leg up - now they can give unlimited amounts of money to their political allies.

[gamewizard]

@megagagnon1

It's about whether or not organized groups of individuals have the same free speech rights as the individuals themselves. If you ban free speech on corporations, it brings us perilously close to the gov't having the power to ban all political speech in the public forum. McCain-Feingold was another instance progressives thinking free speech is their right alone and nobody who disagrees with them matters.

[klingoncelt]

@gamewizard - No it doesn't. It prevents multinationals from pouring billions into campaign activities that will turn the elections to their favor. Maybe you should learn chinese, GW, because if the multinationals win, America will be lost.

[gamewizard]

@klingoncelt

Go peddle your progressive drivel elsewhere.

[yougiberishtube]

thumbs up