Amending the First Amendment

For John, BLUF:  If someone from Congress says they are just trying to be helpful, check for your wallet.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Over at The Washington Examiner, a notorious "Right Wing" newspaperPropoganda Tool, we have Byron York asking "Would Democrats amend Constitution to stop the Koch brothers?"  If the name Harry Reid crossed your mind you wouldn't be far off.  We are talking obsession here.  That other famous DC Right Wing rag, The Washington Post, earlier this month, gave Senator Reid three Pinocchios for listing the Koch Brothers as major contributors to Climate Change.♠  At any rate, here is the lede and following paragraph:

It's no longer news when Majority Leader Harry Reid takes to the floor of the Senate to denounce the Koch brothers. But most Americans probably don't know that Reid and many of his Democratic colleagues now want to amend the U.S. Constitution in far-reaching ways to put an end to the conservative billionaires' political influence.

"The shadowy Koch brothers are attempting… a hostile takeover of American democracy," Reid charged Thursday. "No one should be able to pump unlimited funds into a political campaign."

Well, this proposed Amendment from Senator Tom Udall (D, Utah) is DOA this Session.  Per the article:

As far as the amendment itself is concerned, there's not a chance in the world Democrats will succeed. Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both House and Senate, and then approval by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. It won't happen.

Never say never, but this is definitely a long shot, unless you reimagine it as a public relations campaign to influence the 2014 election—a sort of engineering of consent.  One is reminded of Mr Edward Bernays,♥ nephew of Sigmund Freud.  Mr Bernays was admired by both Noam Chomsky and Joseph Goebbles.

Sure, I would like to get all the big business and big labor money out of elections, but I am concerned about where this leads.  For one thing, the Congress would turn the regulating power over to some bureaucrats in DC and perhaps around the nation.♦  After making many rules, long and complicated, the bureaucrats would go out to trip folks up, not help them comply.  It is possible that at some point they would ask to have their own armed police, with arrest powers.  That would be just one more reason for the Citizens to be dubious, but less in control.  And, all the time the bureaucrats would be saying "We are just trying to be helpful, just trying to enforce the laws."  Autonomy is slowly being crowded out.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Do I need to tell you that Mr Reid is the Senate Majority Leader and a Democrat from Nevada?
♥  Mr Bernays was part of the WWI US Committee on Public Information, that sold the American Public on the idea that it was a war that would "Make the World Safe for Democracy".
♦  I am not against bureaucrats, per se, my Father and two Brothers, all of whom I respect, having been Civil Service bureaucrats.