What? You don't have your own attorney on retainer? How on earth do you plan to take part in our elections, then?

Perhaps, in the throes of this nasty season, we should change our country's slogan from "The land of the free and the home of the brave" to "Land of 10,000 lawyers." But, of course, there are so many more lawyers than that.

Don't get me wrong. My beef isn't with attorneys, but with the need to consult attorneys every time an American citizen would like to open his or her mouth to say something political. Or worse, a group of citizens band together to say something more effectively.

How did this come about?

Congress sacrificed the First Amendment on the altar of Pristine Elections; the Supreme Court donned black robes and cheered the ritual killing. Though no reasonable person could square the McCain-Feingold Act ? the instrument of the sacrifice ? with the clear language of the First Amendment, that inconvenience was ignored. The sacrifice of liberty, you see, was supposed to usher in an election process without "negative" ads and empower the little guy, too.

Feel empowered?

Feel all that "positivity"?

Now, the failure of McCain-Feingold to squelch negative ads should be looked at as a blessing. I want to hear the whole argument of all sides. Bring on the Swift Boat Vets, bring on George Soros, Sinclair Broadcasting, MoveOn.org and everybody else. I really want to hear what they have to say and I don't want my information ethically cleansed by some tribunal of commissars in Washington. Or in my state capitol.

The McCain-Feingold deal of handing over freedom to get sweet and pleasant elections didn't quite come off. Not only is negativity thriving, the "little guy" seems as beleaguered as ever. More money than before ? not less ? is being spent by the very wealthiest to speak out. Some have even given tens of millions ? not that there's anything wrong with it, as Seinfeld would say.

Meanwhile, no matter how strongly the universally trumpeted "little guy" believes in his candidate, being unable to afford a battery of attorneys and consultants, he cannot donate more than $2,000. Fair? Empowering the little guy?

This certainly hasn't taken the money out of politics. It's merely squelched the money and speech of some people so that others may spend and spend ? and scream.

McCain-Feingold is a monstrosity. However, lets not make the mistake of thinking that McCain-Feingold destroyed a functioning First Amendment. Since 1974, in many small steps, Congress has been doing precisely what the First Amendment expressly says Congress cannot do: regulating speech, especially political speech, especially political speech around elections.

McCain-Feingold just took a giant leap forward ? into tyranny. And now our movies ? from Fahrenheit 9/11 to Celsius 411 ? need political lawyers, too. Their makers and their advertising campaigns fall under Federal Election Commission jurisdiction. With Sinclair Broadcasting's decision to air a documentary portraying candidate John Kerry "negatively," we find television programming in need of legal defense, because it is subject to legal attacks. The day in which a film or television program is censored for mentioning the name of a politician is not far off.

But if there is any silver lining in this election, it is the massive spending. The reaction of so many people ? wealthy and not ? has been to respond to the controls on speech with new ingenuity, by putting more of their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor" on the line. That, rather than suppressed speech, is in keeping with American tradition. Continued...