Sample Communications Paper on John McCain
The authored campaign law was Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), which was all about amending the election regulations in the early 70s, basing on the financial procedures and other relevant aspects related to political campaigns (Saxl & Maloney, 2004). The chief sponsors included Russ Feingold and the 2008 presidential aspirant John McCain. However, the law was subjected to legal disputes, with its provisions challenged on unconstitutionality grounds. Thereafter, it was shocking to see everyone changing direction, including McCain himself, with their reason being the complaints that had been filed by both the political parties and institutions which served as the “watchdogs.” This was further reflected in the 2008 presidential election, when McCain lost to Obama, with the total amount spent in campaign approximated to $1,601,104,696.
Our Man McCutcheon
Mr. McCutcheon is one of the top electrical engineers in Alabama, with a lot of interests in politics that has seen him spending huge amounts of money by financing political candidates across the United States. Other than just an electrical engineer, Mr. McCutcheon is one of the multi-dollar billionaires in the US having the required financial muscles to influence the political wave in the region. His case is different from Citizen United basing on the fact that he is against the capping of the total amount funds that an individual is allowed to direct to federal candidates and other political parties of choice. However, some people are freaking out since they may be doomed due to their financial limitation, with others happy since the uncapping may provide an opportunity for them to receive political sponsorship.
Big Money
According to political scientists, “dark money” refers to the resources, particularly funds, that are directed to nonprofit organizations, among them including 501(c)(4) and 510 (c)(6) groups (Gerken, 2014). These are basically social welfare and trade association groups respectively, that are permitted to receive any amount of donations from companies, individuals as well as unions. These kinds of donations are further considered “dark money” on the basis that they can be spent on influencing political waves in the nation, with the recipient organizations, individuals, or unions failing to disclose their donors (Mayer, 2016). To a greater extent, this contributed to the huge spending on close to $4 billion, during November 2014 “midterm” elections, both in federal races and local/state elections.
From the provided case of a PAC spending money in one of the local school board race in favor of a given candidate, a lot of conclusions can be made with regard to “dark money” and democracy. It cannot necessarily be argued that individuals cannot abridge the opportunity for one to express oneself freely other than having an overriding government interest. This is basically directing the powers of influencing campaigns to certain individuals, including those who are wealthy and limiting the strengths of democracy in a nation. With this kind of expenditure by the PAC, it can be best described as enhancing propaganda with the objective of feeding folks’ baser passions.
Commercial Speech
Commercial speech refers to a legal term used in the US with respect to speech undertaken on behalf of an organization as well as an individual with the objective of making profit (Schauer, 1987). Generally, commercial speech is economic in nature, having the intent of influencing to consider a particular action over the other, such as purchasing a product. From the provided case, it is clear that the concerned organizations are embarking on commercial speech to shy away citizens and mother media outlets from publishing information that is contrary to their wishes; their secrecy. Therefore, this implies that those involved in this kind of publications are not subjected to a palpable First Amendment Claim.
References
Gerken, H. K. (2014). The real problem with Citizens United: Campaign finance, dark money, and shadow parties. Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 4894.
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/4894
Mayer, J. (2016). Dark money: The hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Saxl, M., & Maloney, M. (2004). The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: Unintended c onsequences and the Maine Solution. Harvard Journal on Legislation, 41(1), 465.
Schauer, F. (1987). Commercial speech and the architecture of the First Amendment. U. Cin. L. Rev., 56, 1181.