MSNBC reports that yesterday Senator John McCain defended the speech-suppressing "McCain-Feingold" campaign finance law by saying, "I’ve never believed that money was speech. I believe that money is property."
Extending the argument that money does not equal speech to other areas of life exposes the illogical reasoning behind the assertion.
Imagine if the government said, "Citizens are free to travel is much as they like, but they can only spend $2,300 on their travels." Such a limit would be permissible under McCain’s logic, but most people would quickly realize that limiting how much money they can spend traveling is a direct limit on their right to freely travel.
Likewise, limiting money is a direct limit on an individual’s right to speak.
