1. Yes, election integrity is limited to the functions of government conducting a fair and accurate election. You are talking about campaign integrity, not election integrity. Their is no campaign integrity in politics, never has been. There is no measure to assess campaign integrity in politics. There is very little campaign truth in in politics, and I do not believe that legislating campaign integrity, in any measure, is a proper function of government. And allowing the government to play such a role is dangerous to a free society. Political campaigns are nothing if they do not sow confusion among the population. That is for the people to sort out, not for their legislators to prohibit.
2. I receive emails daily claiming to be directly from the desk of every politician seeking to receive a donation from me. Those politicians did not send those emails. But some people will believe they did. Why are you not concerned with the confusion sown by those practices? One large, well-known campaign consultant I expect you know, once purchased a web based news outlet and commenced the practice of writing news stories to spread fake news about that firms opposing candidates. Some people believed those stories. Why are you not concerned with confusion sown by those practices? Keep the government's hands out of legislating truth. Legislating truth in the past leads toward one source of truth, and that would be the government. Let the people sort this out. Why don't you write a bill outlawing governmental propaganda? Governmental propaganda actually does change elections. That I would support. HB986 is simply government propaganda inverted, selecting certain campaign strategies the government doesn't like and punishing people who use them.
3. Nice try, representative, but I have made no concession of anything. Your #3 only adds volume to your response, but no admissible content.
4.You say, "it is not appropriate to pass judgment on what constitutes conservatism?" Really? Representative Thomas, you've run out of arguments, clearly. So, when you go on the campaign trail and tell the voters you are "conservative," you are telling me that the voters should not pass judgement on what that means? In your next line, you claim to be a champion of placing the government in charge of not deceiving voters, yet you can characterize yourself as a conservative, act as a liberal in bills such as this, and they are not being deceived? Why is your brand of deception better than someone else's brand? It's all deception, one way or the other. That's what politics is, organized, sanctioned, bought-and-paid-for DECEPTION. Deception is how all this works. You deceived readers right here claiming I agreed with you in #3. That is rhetorical deception. Yet, I am not going to push for legislation to imprison you for 2-5 years and collect a $50K fine for deceiving readers here. Anyone reading these comments can figure this out for themselves. No true conservative Republican would consider this bill "conservative." This is Big Brother legislation, which once passed into law contains abusive powers which by the tweaking of a few words could outlaw just about any political speech the government does not like, and severely punish individuals for expressing it. HB986 must not become law. I urge the Georgia Senate Rules Committee to table it, and urge the senators to vote it down should HB986 make it onto the floor for a vote. Should any so-called "conservative" vote "Yea," perhaps we need to pass a bill defining the term, "conservative," with heavy punishment for politicians using it during campaigns and sponsoring bills like HB986 once in office.
1. Yes, election integrity is limited to the functions of government conducting a fair and accurate election. You are talking about campaign integrity, not election integrity. Their is no campaign integrity in politics, never has been. There is no measure to assess campaign integrity in politics. There is very little campaign truth in in politics, and I do not believe that legislating campaign integrity, in any measure, is a proper function of government. And allowing the government to play such a role is dangerous to a free society. Political campaigns are nothing if they do not sow confusion among the population. That is for the people to sort out, not for their legislators to prohibit.
2. I receive emails daily claiming to be directly from the desk of every politician seeking to receive a donation from me. Those politicians did not send those emails. But some people will believe they did. Why are you not concerned with the confusion sown by those practices? One large, well-known campaign consultant I expect you know, once purchased a web based news outlet and commenced the practice of writing news stories to spread fake news about that firms opposing candidates. Some people believed those stories. Why are you not concerned with confusion sown by those practices? Keep the government's hands out of legislating truth. Legislating truth in the past leads toward one source of truth, and that would be the government. Let the people sort this out. Why don't you write a bill outlawing governmental propaganda? Governmental propaganda actually does change elections. That I would support. HB986 is simply government propaganda inverted, selecting certain campaign strategies the government doesn't like and punishing people who use them.
3. Nice try, representative, but I have made no concession of anything. Your #3 only adds volume to your response, but no admissible content.
4.You say, "it is not appropriate to pass judgment on what constitutes conservatism?" Really? Representative Thomas, you've run out of arguments, clearly. So, when you go on the campaign trail and tell the voters you are "conservative," you are telling me that the voters should not pass judgement on what that means? In your next line, you claim to be a champion of placing the government in charge of not deceiving voters, yet you can characterize yourself as a conservative, act as a liberal in bills such as this, and they are not being deceived? Why is your brand of deception better than someone else's brand? It's all deception, one way or the other. That's what politics is, organized, sanctioned, bought-and-paid-for DECEPTION. Deception is how all this works. You deceived readers right here claiming I agreed with you in #3. That is rhetorical deception. Yet, I am not going to push for legislation to imprison you for 2-5 years and collect a $50K fine for deceiving readers here. Anyone reading these comments can figure this out for themselves. No true conservative Republican would consider this bill "conservative." This is Big Brother legislation, which once passed into law contains abusive powers which by the tweaking of a few words could outlaw just about any political speech the government does not like, and severely punish individuals for expressing it. HB986 must not become law. I urge the Georgia Senate Rules Committee to table it, and urge the senators to vote it down should HB986 make it onto the floor for a vote. Should any so-called "conservative" vote "Yea," perhaps we need to pass a bill defining the term, "conservative," with heavy punishment for politicians using it during campaigns and sponsoring bills like HB986 once in office.