Jeff Jacoby’s Sunday column “Freedom of speech through contributions is a win for liberty” toes the line of people who call themselves conservative. It claims that the Supreme Court’s recent decision is about freedom of speech. In fact, the decision is not about speech, but about money — money that buys political power.
Most of the candidates backed by Sheldon Adelson and by Karl Rove’s super PAC lost in the last election. Jacoby wants us to think that proves that money does not influence elections. What it really proves is that Adelson and Rove backed extremists whose ideologies could not be whitewashed by expensive ad campaigns.
Jacoby offers a defense of oligarchy disguised as a defense of free speech.