Last Thursday, just days after the midterm election, Ira Glasser, former head of the American Civil Liberties Union, spoke to New York Times columnist Joe Nocera. As the former head of the ACLU, Mr. Glasser has strong opinions about the First Amendment; but his take on big money and its influence on our political system surprised me--a lot.
what eye thynk: The Center for Responsive Politics reported that nearly $4 billion was spent on last week's elections; and Mr. Glasser thinks that is just fine. In fact, he believes that any campaign finance law that limits campaign donations would violate the First Amendment.
Mr. Nocera reported that he asked, "So money equals speech?' And Mr. Glasser replied, No, "but nobody speaks very effectively without money. If you limit how much you spend on speech, you are also limiting speech."
I cannot help but be appalled at the lack of regard Mr. Glasser demonstrates for the average American who cannot afford to spend millions on campaign donations. Should the middle class just accept that their voices will never be heard "effectively" over the billion dollar cacophony raised by people like the Kochs?
Mr. Glasser admitted that big money is corrupting our political system. "Of course there is undue influence of money." But he is apparently fine with that because he believes that a "remedy does more harm than good and violates the constitution."
I sincerely hope that current leadership at the ACLU sees this issue differently, because Ira Glasser is just plain wrong on this. Our First Amendment should not be for sale to the highest bidder.
That being said, I wonder how much it costs to buy a former head of the ACLU?
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