(CCU Faculty) The other day, Vincent Carroll of the Denver Post took Congressman Jared Polis to task for his hypocrisy regarding free speech. Polis has strongly criticized the recent Supreme Court decision rolling back restrictions on corporate speech accusing the latter of using their resources to “confuse and trick people.” Carroll pointed out that Polis is fine with using his considerable private wealth to, I assume, “confuse and trick people” since that’s what money is for.
Carroll points out the buckets of money Polis has poured out to buy allies and elections—especially his own. Par for the course—lots of politicians buy their way into office. But today Polis rebutted Carroll’s accusation.
I guess it was a rebuttal, if by rebuttal we mean using hypocrisy to defend hypocrisy.
Polis’ defense was this: corporations aren’t “human beings.” They aren’t “alive.” That’s it. As a result they don’t have the same free speech rights as plutocrats like Polis. He can spend his money any way he wants because he is a live human being.
Is it lost on Polis that labor unions aren’t “human beings?” What about 527s? What about political parties? What about newspapers? They are afforded exceptions to campaign laws but last time I looked the New York Times was not a human being—just a propaganda arm for the left wing elite.
If Polis is so worried about the role of money in politics he could have started with the last presidential election. His candidate outspent his opponent by 300 million dollars after pledging to only feed at the public trough. Or he could have gone after trial lawyers who do more than anyone else to “confuse and trick people.”
Jared Polis is proof-in-person of one iron law I have observed over the past thirty years. I have never met a single Leftist who believed in unrestricted political speech. Like Jared Polis they all have one standard—free speech for me and not for thee. Polis’ problem with corporations is not that they are not human beings but they might spend their money to support causes he opposes. And that’s the rub. It’s always the rub. The Leftist vision cannot be implemented if people are allowed to freely choose from equally represented alternatives. Because the Left will be rejected every time just as their vision of healthcare and economics is being rejected by the American people at this very moment.
Tricking and confusing people is what the Jared Polises of the world are all about. And they don’t want anyone else to have the opportunity to do it.
