Ed Krayewski of Reason takes on arbitrary rules governing contributions to federal candidates:
Morgan and Trotter note Banner could face five years in prison for making a campaign contribution. Real life government contractors are suing against the arbitrary rule. Morgan and Trotter write that “[i]f they prevail, all sole proprietors will be able to share the right to contribute with the rest of America. Rules that pick and choose who get to maintain their basic constitutional rights on the basis of employment are incompatible with the First Amendment.”
Congress, of course, loves to demonize political speech that’s exercised in the form of campaign donations because Washington politicians are staked in the myth that “money corrupts politics” when, in fact, it’s power that corrupts politics. As I’ve written many times before, politicians don’t need corporations or corporate influence to succumb to corruption, their own personal greed for money and power is sufficient.
