Monday, September 30, 2002

"Just how moderate is Jennifer Granholm?" This is the title of Tom Bray's most recent Detroit News column, focusing on Granholm's support for slavery reparations.  I liked his comment: "We don't hear the activists demanding reparations for the social chaos caused by welfare." An excellent point: "Reparations would be terrible for another reason: Like all taxes, it would undermine America's wealth creation system, which is the only real mechanism for providing the poor and downtrodden with a meaningful grip on the ladder of economic success." Recall also Kuro5hin's call for "reparations for the descendants of women".  4:03:25 PM     The migration of political money Many criticize the McCain-Feingold law on First Amendment grounds.  Mickey Kaus finds a potential loophole in the law's exemption for charitable organizations.  (See entry for Friday, September 27.)  So far, I have not seen much mention of what I think is the largest effect this legislation will have -- the wholesale transfer of money-based power from the Democratic and Republican National Committees to the state parties.  (One exception is a brief mention in the article in the Columbia Journalism Review, called "Follow the Money - Untangling Campaign Finance Gets Harder", to which Kaus points.) The law prohibits the unlimited contributions to the national organizations previously allowed, and which are invariably described by the press using the knee-jerk sobriquet "soft money".  But it does nothing to prevent the very same contributions to the state party organizations, or for that matter to local parties.  In five years, if this part of the law is upheld, we will see a massive shift of power (following the money) from the national to the state party organizations.  Will that be a move in the right direction? 8:08:52 AM

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