Maine's voter-approved limit on PAC contributions triggers lawsuit in federal court

[u/Successful-Way-2313]

https://apnews.com/article/maine-super-pac-donation-limits-lawsuit-49cf34be8ae6aaf96c0b92ad09615abb

[u/Raederle_Anuin]

This is not surprising. Nausea inducing, rage inducing, but not surprising.

[u/Raizau]

• PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A pair of conservative groups on Friday challenged a Maine law that limits donations to political action committees that spend independently in candidate elections, arguing that money spent to support political expression is “a vital feature of our democracy.”

Supporters of the referendum overwhelmingly approved on Election Day fully expected a legal showdown over caps on individual contributions to so-called super PACs. They hoped the referendum would trigger a case and ultimately prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the matter of donor limits after the court opened the floodgates to independent spending in its 2010 Citizens United decision. -

It goes on to talk about how republicans say infinite pac contributions are vital to democracy, and thats why they are fighting it.

Some speech is valued higher than others.

[u/Skydiver860 → u/Raizau]

”a vital feature of our democracy”

Hasn’t it been the conservatives that have been saying we aren’t a democracy? Can they make up their minds?

[u/[deleted] → u/Skydiver860]

Is the classic fascist doublethink.

We are not a democracy, "we're a republic" when that is beneficial for them, and we are a democracy when that is beneficial for them.

But when it is not beneficial to them we are not either of those things.

So I guess what I'm saying is the party just decides what is and isn't truth not based on the truth but entirely based on what would benefit them personally most at the time.

[u/TheMagnuson → u/[deleted]]

A Republic is a form of Democracy though. That’s the part they like to leave out. On top of that, we have a Representational Republic, its just that most in Congress, the Supreme Court, the Executive Branch, and many of the heads of various government agencies, all forgot a long time ago that they are representatives of their constituency.

Ignoring the fact that they to be representatives of their respective constituencies was the first sign of the fall.

[u/BabyBundtCakes → u/Raizau]

If it's a vital feature of democracy then the cap should be set to whatever someone living at the lowest level of poverty could afford to spend

[u/IndominusTaco → u/Raizau]

“some speech is valued higher than others”

all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others

[u/pseudonym19761005]

Look. If we all just start DDDin' 'em...

[u/chomponthis29 → u/pseudonym19761005]

I like this as a verb

[u/CelticDK → u/pseudonym19761005]

Everyone enjoys some triple Ds

[u/TheMagnuson → u/pseudonym19761005]

Another way to refer to it is 3D.

[u/Thrifty_Builder]

The most important issue right now.

[u/mushu_beardie → u/Thrifty_Builder]

Everything else is symptoms, but this is the disease. I'm glad Maine voted to treat the disease.

[u/kieranjackwilson → u/Thrifty_Builder]

Overturning Citizens United is important, but it’s probably not the most important issue right now. The influence of media conglomerates on discourse has a far more significant impact on politics than PAC spending. Plus, billionaires like Elon Musk can personally pump as much money as they want into political actions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with candidates.

Even if campaign contributions were limited, lobbyists will still find ways to influence politicians. It really doesn’t take large sums of money to gain their ears as it stands.

I agree it’s a meaningful issue. But reforms like instituting term limits, ranked-choice voting, abolishing the electoral college, or making Election Day a national holiday would likely do more to make our elections representative and fair.

[u/Successful-Way-2313 → u/kieranjackwilson]

Did somebody say star voting?

[u/mushu_beardie → u/kieranjackwilson]

The point of limiting donations to PACs is to prevent people like Musk from abusing them. I actually do think Citizens United is the most important issue, because it prevents us from dealing with the actual issues. We can't fix the environment if oil companies control politicians. We can't fix workers rights if Starbucks and Amazon are in charge.

[u/ModernistGames]

Republicans truly hate democracy.

How ironic their idea of preserving a vital part of democracy is suing to override the will of the people and what they voted for.

[u/CelticDK]

Idk how anyone claiming working class people are the backbone of the country can accept keeping money in politics??