The U.S. Supreme Court struck down campaign finance limits on free speech grounds last week, and plenty of readers exercised their free speech rights to concur, dissent or generally second-guess the decision. Coverage of the ruling, along with full reader debate, can be found at www.spokesman.com.

PhiltheBibliophil: After this ruling if anyone thinks that elections are still about “We the People” they are sadly mistaken. Time for someone to write a serious book about “The Rise and Fall of the American Empire.”

Twoandthree: Sadly someone crossed out “We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union” and wrote in, “We with the most money now run your country and we don’t even vote.”

•From the Huckleberries Online blog:

Sisyphus: Even with McCain-Feingold in place it’s still not a level playing field. Now without it, things are going to get very unpopulist.

Idawa: While I understand the legal reasoning behind the majority, I find it very disheartening. In the words of the former Republican Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, to confuse corporate spending as the First Amendment equivalent of individual free speech is “to confuse metaphor with reality.” It’s a ruling that diminishes the value of the words “WE THE PEOPLE” and Americans should be disappointed with this twisting of the Constitution done by Bush’s court.

Herb Huseland: As long as labor and other left-leaning organizations such as the Sierra Club, etc. can donate, corporate America should also be able to. Otherwise it is an out-of-balance situation where only one side has a money advantage.

JamesBond: Partisans on one side hate it when people on the other side say mean, nasty things about them, and vice versa. Politicians on both sides are always trying to find ways to limit criticism. Thankfully, in America, we have the First Amendment.

•From the Matter of Opinion blog:

Chip Jones: Let’s hope we don’t end up with the very best Congress that Exxon-Mobil can buy.

Gmorton: How will “big business” manage to “get their candidates in office” unless enough average guys vote for them?

Jeffrey_Grey: I can’t cite the source from memory, but I remember someone yesterday making the observation that if Exxon devoted just 2 percent of its annual profits to campaign advertising, it would outspend all the 2008 presidential campaigns combined. I’m sure it’s not properly libertarian or “freedom-loving right-think” of me to be deeply concerned by that kind of power. And yet for some reason I am.