https://youtu.be/RfvdfDqTG6w

In a speech on the floor of the Senate in opposition to the For The People voting protection legislation, Republican Tennessee Senator (and substitute middle school teacher speaking earnestly to gain the students’ respect) Marsha Blackburn notes that the bill requires disclosure of political contributions, which she claims, would do away with the traditionally “anonymous” nature of such donations and therefore crushes First Amendment free speech protections.

“And speaking of those donors,” Blackburn brays ominously, “if you’ve ever wondered who was behind a particular campaign, this bill has you covered.  It includes restrictions on political speech in the form of a donor disclosure mandate.”

Apparently thinking that transparency in funding a political ad is a bad thing, Blackburn goes on to say that the anonymity of political speech–like with the Federalist Papers and the Civil Rights movement (?)–would be eliminated.  (For those who don’t know, the Federalist Papers were published anonymously in the 18th Century by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Monroe under the collective pen name “Publius,” and they would be allowed to be written and even distributed under the For the People bill.)  Disclosing donors for political campaigns is already the law–you can search all donors to campaigns on a Federal Election Committee website–but this would put a light on “dark money” donated to Political Action Committees and other political ads by special interest groups and individuals.  This, Blackburn claims, would lead to “cancel culture.”