Editorial: Capitol protests

More than 400 people were arrested Monday during protests at the U.S. Capitol over the role of money in politics and other election-related issues.

The demonstrators were part of a series of “Democracy Spring” events planned this week by a number of liberal groups. The protesters aimed the majority of their ire at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, in which the justices ruled that free-speech protections applied to independent political expenditures.

Two observations on the progressive fixation with Citizens United:

— The most effective way to mitigate the influence of money on the political class is to restore the constitutional boundaries intended to check the power of the state. The surge of cash now diverted to influence the political process is the direct result of a federal government that recognizes few limits on its authority and has ballooned to concern itself with even the tiniest detail of everyday existence. This exposes a fundamental paradox in the progressive vision, which seeks to eradicate money from politics but turns a blind eye to the obvious factors creating the issue in the first place.

— It’s worth remembering that during arguments in Citizens United, the deputy solicitor general of the United States told the astonished justices that campaign finance laws allowed the government to ban certain books, films, pamphlets or other materials intended to influence an election. That alone should be reason enough for those complaining about Citizens United to rethink their opposition.