On Super PACs and “Conservative” Columnsists

I’m going to revisit a writer whose work continues to demonstrate how non-conservatives conservatives have moved.  The Denver Post’s David Harsanyi opines on Super PACs and, according to his title, “free will”.  Like most other “conservatives”, he argues that free speech is critical to our way of life and the Supreme Court “conservatives’” pre-meditated choice to issue a decision that didn’t even deal with a case that was brought before them somehow increases free speech (in the form of money, of course).  He continues by lamenting that citizens don’t have this same freedom because they have to file reports with the federal government when they join with at least 11 other citizens to donate money to political campaigns.

The crocodile tears shed for citizens sounds good until you think about which citizens have the most money: those already contributing to Super PACs.  I don’t have a single friend or activist acquaintance that has the financial ability to donate tens of thousands or millions of dollars to any campaign or issue of their choice.  Therein lies the problem with the argument: do super-corporations (especially those based over-seas) have more freedom of speech than a citizen of the United States?  Should they have more freedom than we do?  I don’t think so.  But “conservatives” today do.

Note further that “conservatives” wouldn’t be extolling the virtues of Citizens United if their elite-blessed candidates weren’t expected to be the primary beneficiaries of the decision.  Such is the reality in the hyper-partisan environment those same “conservatives” have spent 50 years creating.

And how much does this columnist actually believe in “free will” anyway?  If the belief was consistent, free will would extend to all personal choices, including what women decide to do with their own bodies.  That is the crux of the matter: too many partisans – on both sides of the aisle – are only willing to push for “rights” and “freedoms” when it’s convenient for them to do so.  Consistency is another casualty of today’s hyper-partisanship.

Empty Food Banks

I’m glad this country is wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money on a failed occupation on the other side of the world.  I’m also glad this is a Christian nation – because I’ve been told that Christians love their neighbor like no other religion’s adherents can.  And it’s not as if the richest country in the world has working class people going hungry this holiday season or anything.

So tell me: where are the televangelists and mega-church leaders on this issue?  Why aren’t they beating down the doors of Congress, or even mine or yours to address this shameful state of affairs?  Where are the “compassionate Conservatives”?  Why isn’t this the lead talking point of the day in the media?  After all, conservatives own nearly all the large media in this country at this point.

Why are we wasting all that money in Iraq?  Does anybody know how many people the $55 Billion would have helped feed and clothe?  Articles are saying people’s ability to buy food for themselves is the worst it’s been in more than 30 years.  So tell me why exactly people in 2000 thought that re-installing the actors behind Nixon would  be successful the second time around?

Oh, that’s right: because brown people, gays, and abortionists are hard at work every day of the year trying to destroy this country.  Obviously we have more important things to worry about than our own citizens going hungry.  Silly me, I forgot.