To send $25 to the political candidate of your choice, text “GO” to 43468

Here’s your WTF moment.

It’s not as if our nation doesn’t have enough problems already with unlimited political donations, Super PACs, and the concern for the influx of money from foreign concerns – although, SCOTUS justice Samuel Alito mouthed otherwise during the 2010 State of the Union address given by President Obama.

Retired Justice John Paul Stevens – in a speech at the University of Arkansas – said that,

“[T]he Court must then explain its abandonment of, or at least qualify its reliance upon, proposition that the identity of the speaker is an impermissible basis for regulating campaign speech,” Stevens said Wednesday night, according to prepared remarks. “It will be necessary to explain why the First Amendment provides greater protection to the campaign speech of some non-voters than to that of other non-voters.”

He further noted that the court’s majority opinion in the Citizens United case, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, specifically did NOT address the possibility that foreign entities could bankroll U.S. elections.

There are – believe it, or else – Supreme Court Justices with level heads. One of them is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She petitioned the SCOTUS to reconsider the Citizens United case, arguing that by granting certiorari, it “will give the court an opportunity to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates’ allegiance, Citizens United should continue to hold sway.”

If you think we have difficulty tracing campaign contributions now, just wait.

Now, the Federal Election Commission is about to open wide the doors to…

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FEC Poised to Allow Campaign Donations Via Texts

June 7, 2012, 5:10 PM, By Amy Schatz

Giving money to political candidates could soon be just a few taps away, thanks to federal campaign-finance officials who are close to approving a plan to allow political donations via text message.

Several Federal Election Commission commissioners signaled their interest in approving a plan from two political consulting firms to allow campaigns to accept donations via text message at a meeting Thursday.
The FEC rejected a similar wireless industry proposal to allow text message donations two years ago but say the new plan appears to satisfy federal campaign-finance rules.

“This seems like a good idea for a lot of reasons,” said Ellen Weintraub, the FEC’s vice chairman at a meeting Thursday where the idea was discussed.

Several FEC commissioners, including chairwoman Caroline Hunter, said they were prepared to approve the plan on Thursday, but the commission held off on a vote in an effort to get a few last-minute technical questions answered. A vote on the plan could happen as soon as Friday, FEC officials said.

Under the proposal, an aggregating company would process the donations and ensure no phone number sends more than $50 a month to a federal candidate. Federal election rules set a $50-a-month limit on anonymous donations to campaigns.

Since campaigns are required to receive donations within a few days, the aggregator would forward anywhere from 50% to 70% of the donation to the campaign within 10 days. The rest of the money would be split between the wireless carriers for their fees and the aggregator for its services in fronting the money to campaigns and handling the transactions.

Currently, federal candidates can’t accept donations via text message although state and local candidates in Maryland and California can because of recent changes to state election rules.

Both President Barack Obama’s campaign and Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s campaign lent their support for the federal text messaging plan in letters to the FEC, saying it would help encourage small donations from a larger number of Americans.

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blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/06/07/fec-poised-to-allow-campaign-donations-via-text-message/