[EL] Curiouser and Curiouser. NY Times Survey on Money in Politics

[Schultz, David A.]

Hi All:

I found the silence deafening on this listserv regarding the June 2-3, 2015
NY Times survey finding that overall 84% of the American public believes
money has too much of a role in American politics and that majorities (or
near majority with Republicans) do not believe that money given to
candidates is a form of protected speech.  Assuming this survey is accurate
(and its results are consistent with one I had done in MN years ago) then
the Roberts Court and views expressed by several on this listserv are
clearly at odds and out of touch with what the majority of Americans
believe.

Now of course counter-majoritarianism is not always wrong.  Unpopular
speech should be permitted despite what majorities believe.  But what is
going on here is not about regulating content or viewpoint or suppressing
unpopular groups or oppressing discrete and insular minorities.  What we
seen here is an indication of the public describing how they think the
American politics process should operate and such views do deserve
significant deference.  I also read the poll as rejecting what many on this
listserv are asserting, i.e., conflating money as a perfect legitimate way
to buy consumer with the legitimate way to allocate political power and
influence.  It is also a conflating the legitimate means or process of how
a democracy should operate with how it does operate, or otherwise confusing
money as a medium of economic exchange with that of seeing it as a
permissible means of political exchange.


No responses needed or expected to my post.  Just curiouser and curiouser
about positions taken by the Court that really display contempt of the
American public.

-- 
David Schultz, Professor
Editor, Journal of Public Affairs Education (JPAE)
Hamline University
Department of Political Science
1536 Hewitt Ave
MS B 1805
St. Paul, Minnesota 55104
651.523.2858 (voice)
651.523.3170 (fax)
http://davidschultz.efoliomn.com/
http://works.bepress.com/david_schultz/
http://schultzstake.blogspot.com/
Twitter:  @ProfDSchultz
My latest book:  Election Law and Democratic Theory, Ashgate Publishing
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754675433
FacultyRow SuperProfessor, 2012, 2013, 2014
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