To the editor:

There have been letters on this page assailing the recent Supreme Court decision cutting back the power of the Federal Election Commission over campaign finance. The First Amendment prohibits interference with speech. The Constitution gives Congress a limited role in elections, that of breaking a deadlock in the Electoral College and passing legislation to guarantee voting rights per the 15th Amendment.

The fact that there is precedent and there have been limitations on campaign contributions since 1907 is beside the point. Bad precedent is bad precedent and needs to be checked lest the government exceed its powers to the detriment of our freedom.

It is unlikely that there will be a flood of corporate money into elections as no public corporation wishes to attract taxpayer lawsuits (courtesy of Sarbanes-Oxley). And if there is, I believe the electorate or a substantial proportion thereof is intelligent enough to say, “Hold on, there.”

I am not as concerned about “our democracy,” a term not used extensively prior to FDR, as I am about the health of our constitutional republic, which stands between its citizens and the tyranny of a central government and the tyranny of the majority.