re: #127 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut

It’s speech that crowds out other speech. In fact, it’s obviation of the speech of others, since you’re paying them to say something.

Are you saying you disagree with all campaign finance laws and think that unrestricted political speech should be allowed?

To your question: No, nothing so dramatic.

To your statement: A TV commercial does not obviate* someone else’s speech since the TV network or station has already set aside a bloc of time for commercials, and still has its newscasts for its own speech. Any actors in the commercial are employees of the campaign, at least while filing. They can’t publicly bad mouth the candidate whose campaign they work for till after the election, it is true, but that is a standard part of most employment (If you publicly hate on the company you work for or the products it produces, you won’t be working there long.)

*: I like that word ‘obviate’, but I so rarely have an opportunity to write it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so.