Mr. Justice Stevens wrote a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer concurred in part and dissented in part. Mr. Justice Steven's dissent should, but does not, evoke Diana Moon Glampers, the title character in the play,The Handicapper General, by Kurt Vonnegut and Pat Cook. People who have too much money and are prepared to spend it to get elected to public office should be handicapped, just as a ballet dancer who can jump higher and more beautifully than a ballet dancer who is less talented should have weights attached to his legs to promote equality. Mr. Justice Stevens laments the "purchase by the wealthiest bidder" of elected office. That is surely something about which to complain, and if votes were for sale to the highest bidder, we would all be in serious trouble. Although the electorate may indeed be stupid, it is not that stupid; if it is, I guess we deserve what we get. One hopes that the electorate listens to campaign speeches and commercials, and at least tries to make a reasoned judgment on the merits. This may not be true, but one can always hope that it is. If it is not, no law can reasonably be expected to make it so.

So there you have it. Despicable Fat Cats who want to finance their own campaigns for elective office can now do so without impediments imposed by the "Millionaire's Amendment." Celebrities with great name recognition (Elvis, were he still alive, Britney Spears, and even Pat Buchanan), politicians who have attained such name recognition through long tenures for good or ill (the Kennedy clan, the Clintons, et al) can continue to soak up funds from contributors, and continue to offer their reasons why they should be elected. As long as we are to have free and fair elections, there is no apparent reason why the over privileged should be allowed to do less.

Fat Cats who run for office must be treated no differently than "poor" but famous people. That is probably a good thing.