Friday, August 08, 2008

On Anonymous Political Donations

Hmmmm.

I have argued (at Esenberg's, Folkbum's, and Owen's sites inter alia) that there should be no "anonymous" donor vehicles for political expression. Put another way, I think that One Wisconsin Now should publish, online and immediately, the names of its donors along with the amounts of the donations.

Silly me. I thought that political expression was merely that--and not a cause of grievance and revenge.

Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week.…

Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.

...The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.

OK.

I give up that position. Although I think that people such as Judy Faulkner are doing more harm than good to their own businesses with her economic "boycott," I don't think that anyone should be forced to give up their lives for the sake of the cause.

Curious, no, that only the Left has made these threats and taken these actions?

HT: Malkin

5 comments:

Headless Blogger said...

It is not a Reductio ad Hitlerum to call Matzzie and his followers Nazis. This is Brownshirt behavior only directed at conservatives and friends of conservatives, instead of Jews and their friends.

Robert Doeckel said...

Hm. funny you should leave WMC out of this discussion. with the piles of cash flowing in to that organization to push lies and rhetoric, you'd think they would be your #1 target...hypocrites.

Also, according to Godwin's law, you already lost this argument. No one gives a crap about your nazi reference...you facist.

Dad29 said...

I'll be happy to include WMC.

But it makes no difference.

Your rather impolite response, however, is not congruent with the logical and coolly analytical nature of this blog.

Why am I not surprised?

Anonymous said...

Regardless about how you feel about Accountable America's actions, even dad29 might admit that comparing their actions to the actions of Nazi Stormtroops is extreme.

How the "headless blogger" could compare the writers of some letters to the perpetrators of the holocaust is beyond me.

Headless Blogger said...

Stop the name calling downey. I am not a fascist, progressive, Nazi, socialist or whatever the left is now calling itself. Classical Liberal is the term that defines my political leanings.

You are wrong with respect to Godwin, as this "law" does not apply when the facts do.

Gleichschaltung, anyone? The Move-On bullying of their opponents was a tactic of the Nazis and Italian Fascists. The parallels are stunning. Read Liberal Fascism.

Fascism/Progressivism/Nazism are different names for the same movement. If you don't like the name, change the behavior.