EDITORIAL: Amending the First Amendment

The U.S. military is again engaged in Iraq. The humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is getting worse by the week. And the economy, although recovering, has all the kick of a warm, flat soda.

But what does Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid see as the country’s top priority? Rewriting the First Amendment.

On Aug. 1, shortly before the Senate shut down for a five-week recess, Sen. Reid scheduled a Sept. 8 procedural vote — the first order of business the upper chamber will tackle when it returns from its break — on a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to cap the amount of money that can be spent on political speech. Senate Joint Resolution 19 would reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United and 2014 McCutcheon rulings, which overturned hard caps on total direct contributions to candidates in any one election and said the federal government cannot limit issue advocacy spending by nonprofits, super PACs, unions and corporations. The proposed amendment to an amendment, authored by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., would not only give Congress the authority to limit political advocacy spending — core protected expression — but prohibit judges from overturning any other campaign finance laws the legislative branch proposes in the future.

Sen. Reid says the vote boils down to “a simple choice.”

“We can keep the status quo and argue all day and all night, weekends, forever about whose billionaires are right, whose billionaires are wrong, or we can work together to change the system, to get this shady money out of our democracy and restore the basic principles of one American, one vote,” he said.

Sen. Reid’s words might sound noble and inspiring, but his amendment is more about hampering Republican fundraising efforts than “cleaning up” the system. Democrats love big money if it is spent on them.

While Democrat-aligned political action committees have raised more cash in recent years than Republican PACs, GOP-friendly nonprofit groups have solicited more donations than left-leaning nonprofit groups. Many GOP donors give to nonprofits because they want to remain anonymous. They have good reason for this — see the IRS targeting scandal for proof.

This drives Sen. Reid nuts. He has staged the procedural vote just as the fall campaign will heat up, giving him and the Democrats another chance to attack the GOP and prominent conservative donors such as the Koch brothers.

It’s important to note that while Democrats have raised more PAC money and conservatives have the edge in nonprofit advocacy fundraising, all the spending by Americans for Prosperity, American Crossroads and other conservative groups has gained Republicans almost nothing. The GOP didn’t retake the Senate in 2012, and President Obama won re-election. Money, even big money, is no substitute for solid organization and a good ground game. No one has proved this more than Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, who has poured a fortune into the campaigns of losing candidates.

Sen. Reid’s sneaky move is yet another distraction in a long line of distractions. The idea of amending the amendment that created this country’s individual liberties is completely outrageous and will undoubtedly fail.

Money is speech, and Americans should be able to spend their money engaging in ideas and criticizing their government. Without fail, any type of campaign finance restriction or “reform” is an incumbent protection racket. Restricting political speech is a slippery slope that, eventually, will hurt the average voter far more than it will hurt the rich.