Good to see this key issue regarding the commodification of our rights given some attention in the major media.

Money, by definition, is a medium that can be exchanged for goods and services and is used as a measure of their values in the market. We are taught that the value of some things, such as our integrity as individuals, our privacy, and our right to free expression, cannot be expressed in monetary terms.

But in the United States today, we apply this principle inconsistently - and generally in ways that undermine democracy and favor wealthy people and special interests.

The US Supreme Court, in its 1976 decision in the case Buckley v. Valeo, essentially concluded that free expression can be counted in dollars. Money spent to influence elections, the court concluded, is a form of constitutionally protected free speech.

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Other Western democracies presume political speech and access to airwaves are priceless. So France, for example, requires all media to provide an equal forum to all candidates, if it is provided to one. Free access to broadcasting’s mass audiences is wholly consistent with democracy and the public interest. Moreover, the FCC already has sufficient authority to make this a condition to hold an otherwise free broadcast license as a public trust. Without the requirement to spend huge amounts of money to access instant mass audiences, candidates could instead focus on issues of concern to the American people, and the cost of elections would decrease.

But perhaps the United States instead will continue to act as if basic rights can be bought, sold, and owned.

The article, going to the heart of the communications rights issue, does a good job in deconstructing the underlying reasons why this condition exists, and what can - and should - be done to rectify it in our civic culture.

Highly recommended read