Bill Bradley was the first prominent political figure in either party to come right out and say that we might want to rewrite the First Amendment in order to enact what now passes for campaign-finance "reform" on Capitol Hill. An editorial in these pages ("Silencing Free Speech in the Name of Reform," November 25, 1996) pointed out that Bradley had at least injected some truth into an otherwise suffocatingly dishonest debate. Add to that list Dick Gephardt, who was quoted last week in a Time article on campaign-finance reform as follows: "What we have is two important values in direct conflict: freedom of speech and our desire for healthy campaigns in a healthy democracy. You can't have both."
Dick Gephardt can speak for himself when it comes to his desires. We'll still take freedom of speech any day.