[EL] CPA/Zicklin

[Eric Hallstrom]

Many people in this country have limited avenues to affect the political
process. They can vote, but they don't have a lot of money to donate to
political causes and they don't have a lot of time to get active in
political campaigns. Much of their financial engagement with the world
takes place when paying for basic goods and services. Is it really that
surprising that they might want to make a political point when they do?
Many religious people try to patronize businesses owned by people that
share their faith. This hardly seems miserable.

I read a draft of Sarah Haan's "The CEO and the Hydraulics of Campaign
Finance Deregulation" earlier this summer and thought it was provocative.
The article posits that ordinary Americans feel they have lost the ability
to influence policy makers because they can't compete with the donor class.
As a result, they are trying to engage with the donor class economically.
One way they do this is by trying to leverage their consumer activity. I
don't think the essay expresses view on the desirability of this phenomena,
but I think does make a strong case that the "increasingly politicized
retail economy" is one consequence of campaign finance deregulation. I
personally don't have a strong view on the efficacy of such activity. But
it is hard to say that trying to make use the tools available to express
one's political viewpoints is living a miserable existence.

There isn't much on this list that bothers me anymore. Egregious
self-promotion and allegedly academic discourse dripping with sarcasm and
condescension; fine. But the disdain articulated in this thread for people
who are trying to live out their values in their day-to-day lives is really
off-putting and disheartening.

-ECH


On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 2:26 PM, Smith, Brad <BSmith at law.capital.edu> wrote:

>
>  Is regulation of campaign spending really just an attempt to gain
> advantage (and eventually political favors and redistribution) against
> political opposition? Or, as they say, one man's effort to "buy off the
> regulatory structure" is another man's "sound public policy."
>
>  Really, a miserable way to live one's life, refusing to do business with
> those of differing political views, and even worse, pressuring others to do
> the same. But it is how some want to live, I suppose.
>
>  *Bradley A. Smith*
>
> *Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault*
>
> *   Professor of Law*
>
> *Capital University Law School*
>
> *303 E. Broad St.*
>
> *Columbus, OH 43215*
>
> *614.236.6317 <614.236.6317>*
>
> *http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx
> <http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx>*
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* David Ely [ely at compass-demographics.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 24, 2014 2:06 PM
> *To:* Smith, Brad; 'law-election at UCI.edu'
> *Subject:* RE: [EL] CPA/Zicklin
>
>   To put a finer point on it,  is the political spending of for-profit
> corporations really just an attempt to buy off the regulatory structure and
> allow themselves to externalize costs to a maximum extent?
>
>
>
> *From:* law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:
> law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf Of *David Ely
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 24, 2014 10:58 AM
> *To:* 'Smith, Brad'; 'law-election at UCI.edu'
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] CPA/Zicklin
>
>
>
> Which is why markets do such a poor job of dealing with external effects
> of economic activity. It’s hard for a consumer to separate worrying about
> political views and activities from worrying about economic decisions that
> externalize public costs from the price of a product.
>
>
>
> *From:* law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [
> mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] *On Behalf Of *Smith,
> Brad
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 24, 2014 9:03 AM
> *To:* law-election at UCI.edu
> *Subject:* [EL] CPA/Zicklin
>
>
>
> CPI writes:
>
>
>
> "Watch your Netflix show, wear your Ralph Lauren shirt, brew your Keurig
> coffee and deposit your paycheck at M&T Bank.
>
> Just know that you're patronizing some of the nation's least politically
> transparent companies,"
>
> What a horrible, impoverished way to live one's life, worrying about the
> political views and activities of everyone you come into contact with, and
> using that to decide whether to do business with them.
>
>
>
> *Bradley A. Smith*
>
> *Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault*
>
> *   Professor of Law*
>
> *Capital University Law School*
>
> *303 E. Broad St.*
>
> *Columbus, OH 43215*
>
> *614.236.6317 <614.236.6317>*
>
> *http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx
> <http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx>*
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>



-- 
Eric Hallstrom
(202) 486-2441
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20140924/d68bda03/attachment.html>