PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
Polls don't matter if rights involved :: 06/04/2015
When it comes to rights, polls don’t matter. That’s a point we’ve made regarding the Second Amendment, but it also applies to the First. A right is a right, and it’s derived from God. Your neighbor’s opinion is irrelevant.
CBS News doesn’t get this. It has announced a new poll that shows, not shockingly, that “Americans say money has too much influence in campaigns.”
“As the 2016 presidential race begins, 84 percent of Americans think money has too much influence in political campaigns now,” CBS reports. “Criticism of the role of money cuts across party lines — large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents all think money has too much influence. Most Americans see widespread problems with how election campaigns are funded in the United States.”
Well of course they do — when it’s put like that. “Money in politics” is like the fox in the henhouse, in the minds of most Americans. For the record, we agree. The current political campaign funding system is the worst imaginable — except for all the others, to paraphrase what Churchill said about democracy. Imagine how public funding of campaigns could be twisted to benefit those in power, or worse, how self-funding of campaigns would allow only the wealthy to run.
As for the CBS poll, there are three points to make. The first is that polls aren’t news, no matter how big the headlines (or the chyrons) are. Very often, polls are an attempt to sway opinion; candidates, for example, release positive polls, hoping for a bandwagon effect. But polls aren’t news in the sense of real events or developments. For the most part, they’re just filler. And history shows they’re not even very accurate in predicting outcomes.
Second, polls don’t matter when it comes to rights — and the freedom of speech is our most fundamental. Contributing to the campaign of a candidate you endorse is, undeniably, a form of speech. It’s a way to participate in the political process.
Want to limit campaign contributions? Well, fine — but at least acknowledge you’re limiting speech. That’s what the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled it.
Actually, no, that’s not fine, because it’s not something anyone should limit. The freedom of speech is right not created by the U.S. Constitution, but merely recognized by Constitution. The real purpose of the Bill of Rights isn’t to give us anything — it’s to limit the power of the government.
Finally, there’s the fact that money in politics is only a perceived problem — not a real one. The simple fact is that money doesn’t buy elections. This was demonstrated in the Republican primaries in 2012, when Gov. Rick Perry’s vast campaign war chest couldn’t lift his chances.
The same thing was seen in Colorado in 2014, when gun control advocates outspent pro-gun voters who wanted to recall some politicians 7-to-1. The gun control side was nevertheless soundly defeated.
The real point here is the CBS poll is meaningless. Sure, the poll is lopsided. Who doesn’t want money out of politics.
But that’s fantasy. In the real world, the poll is meaningless.
http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Editorials/220423/polls-dont-matter-if-rights-involved
