Stamping Messages on Dollar Bills

BEN COHEN, one half of the "Ben @ Jerry's" Ice cream empire, seems to be quite a good liberal fellow. He Supports democratic candidates, including the most liberal among them, and liberal causes, the environment, equal rights, the whold liberal agenda. He and partner Jerry started an ice cream parlor in vermont in 1977, and now they are a subsidiary in a large international corporation. Ben's always involved in some high minded political or social cause. His big project now is to get the money out of politics, or, more accurately, to get the american people to get their government to get the money out of politics. The offensive is being waged on several fronts, one of which is the "Stamp Stampede" project, in which participants stamp messages on dollar bills, in order to spread the word. It is calculated that the average dollar bill ends up being passed around between nearly eight hundred fifty people during its lifetime, so that if a hundred people or so stamp a message on several dozen dollars a day for a period of about a year, soon enough everyone in the united states will see one of the messages. There are several different messages being stamped, all very clever in content. "money is not politics" comes to mind. Also, "no political bribery", and "the system isn't broke.Its fixed". That last one might be the best one of all. Precisely how all this is supposed to translate into real action to eliminate money from politics is anybody's guess; presumably, it has to do with the raising of public awareness. always a noble endeavor. In particular, the campaign is aimed against the Supreme Court decision three ago which said that money is free speech, and cannot be abridged constitutionally, and that therefore, anyone, including corporations, may, essentially, give any amount of money desired to any political candidate, legally. Partly becuase of this, the Obama people spent about one billion dollars to get elected, it will take at least that much to purchase the presidency for onyone and everyone in the future, and members of congrsess routinely accumulate several millions dollars themselves buy their political offices, aka "get elected". In america, to purchase office is synonymous with "to get elected"; the two terms are, for all itents and purposes, interchangeable. All this, and the answer is so, so simple. A first proposed by the late great writer gore vidal, it consists of seven little words, enacted into law. To wit: "the purchase of political advertising is prohibited." Under this law, money would still be speech, and all political advertising, free by requirement, would still be speech, and for the first time, truly "free". How simple, nad how ingenious! Those seven words might be the best message Ben Cohen and his people could possibly stamp on any dollar bill. It might save the country from plutocracy and return it to the control of the "common man". But don't count on it. Who uses cash anymore? Among those who do, how many ever see any dollars or green bills of any sort? And besides, Ben already has a goodly number of clever messages going out on the stamp stampede.