People have a right to unlimited spending on their own political speech.

The issue of campaign finance reform raises the question of whether or not government has the power to limit political spending. My argument is that the principle of free speech extends to unlimited speech; unlimited speech requires unlimited spending; political speech is a valid (and, arguably, the most important) type of speech; therefore, people--whether as individuals or organizations--have a right to spend as much as they wish on their own political speech Argument reiterated: 1) Freedom of speech extends to unlimited speech. 2) Unlimited speech requires unlimited spending. 3) Political speech is the most important type of speech. 4) If (1)-(3) then people have a right to unlimited spending on their own political speech. 5) People have a right to unlimited spending on their own political speech. (From 1-4) Elaboration on (1): The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, in part, "Congress shall make no law"abridging the freedom of speech"or the right of the people peaceably to assemble." From this derives, I believe, a preclusion of quantitative restrictions. Politically enforced limits on how much a political actor can say are questionable and may be justified under only the most peculiar circumstances. I defend the extension of this liberty to unlimited speech as an intuitive notion: free speech, prima facie, includes a liberty to speak as much as one may wish, especially if the speech is of a sort critical to the political process. It is democratically antithetical to allow the government to restrict, directly or indirectly, how much political actors may say when engaging in events that serve the democratic process. Elaboration on (2) If we hold that (1), it seems only to follow that government ought not to limit access to resources necessary to engage in politics. Primary among these resources is money. As unfortunate as it may seem, contemporary U.S. campaigns demand a great deal of time, energy and money, especially in very contentious races. Moreover, it is highly suspicious for incumbents to pass laws that limit how much potential challengers may spend on their efforts to gain office. Elaboration on (3): It is a truism that political speech"expressions that comment on government action and include discussion about public policy, elections, and campaigns"is necessary for a democratic state to thrive. As such an important concept, it is entitled to the strongest protection the First Amendment can provide. Debate over public policy may be limited under only the rarest circumstances; the government must have a strong, persuasive reason to substantiate such circumstances. Given (1)-(3), it follows that people have a right to unlimited spending on their own political speech. (This is not to be confused with campaign donations, which I treat as a separate category. I am concerned only with money and other resources that people spend from their own treasuries on their own political speech.) Quantitative limits on speech may be acceptable only if they serve a pragmatic purpose and are implemented in a way that does no collateral damage. Noise curfews, e.g., are understandable in that their restrictions are content-neutral and they serve to respect neighbors' need for sleep, quiet, etc. Another example would be penalizing a group that has littered a park with political leaflets; the penalty is for littering and has nothing to do with the leaflets' content. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that money is an essential resource in modern day campaigns. Limiting money implicitly limits speech. Limiting speech is justifiable under only the most peculiar circumstances; therefore limiting money for political speech is, generally, politically unjustifiable.