It is true that the present law — in fact no law anywhere — has been able to rein in independent groups, and in a democracy maybe it is impossible to do so. But it is absurd to argue that opening up party coffers limits the influence of special interests. The Republicans are beholden to tobacco, pharmaceutical, mining and other interests, and the Democrats have their own slate of big donors.
For some reason, the editors at the Rutland Herald can't bring themselves to say just who those big Democratic donors might be. Republicans get their money from guys who make cigarettes and rape the earth. And the other side? Well, the Herald is just too fastidious to say.
Could one of those special interests perhaps be an organization with its foot firmly on the neck of taxpayers everywhere? One that resists any new idea that challenges its power and hegemony. One that employs a certain Mr. Joel Cook to watch over the committees in the Vermont Legislature that write law having to do with education.
Maybe the Herald will tell us just who it has in mind and then tell us why, if the dues that teachers pay to their union can be spent to wage politics, it is wrong to let non-teachers spend whatever they want in support of a candidate who favors ... oh, merit pay for teachers.
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