This is legislation just waiting to be struck down by the Supreme Court. Democrats in Congress were angry that the high court stood up for the First Amendment by throwing out part of McCain-Feingold, so they have pushed through equally horrid legislation.

The bill mandates that most independent groups, including labor unions and corporations, must disclose the names of the top five donors whose money helped fund political ads.

Not so bad, right? A little bad on the privacy front, but survivable. It gets worse:

It also would require corporate and union executives to appear in political ads that their organizations help pay for and say that he or she “approves this message,” as candidates currently do in campaign commercials.

In addition, the measure would ban government contractors from contributing to campaigns, prevent federal TARP money recipients from using that money to influence elections, and curb foreign nationals and countries from contributing to campaigns.

“With this bill, no longer will corporations be able to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said prior to the vote. “By voting yes, we are putting power back into the hands of the voters.”

One problem: Congress doesn’t get to decide which citizens receive protection under the First Amendment. The Constitution does not allow Nancy Pelosi and her San Francisco liberal friends to determine that the guy over there can express himself but you can’t. Yet that’s what this legislation does.

Congress has decided to ban certain corporations from speaking freely, yet asserts the First Amendment rights of others. The New York Times Co. should feel free to advocate for left-wing policies, but the AJAX Corporation which manufactures toilet paper purchased by the government has to shut up? They’re both corporations.

What’s worse is that the ban on free speech isn’t simply a ban on funding commercials. We’re talking about denying the ability to support the candidate of your choice financially. As much as Democrats may insist otherwise, money is speech. You utilize your financial resources every day to make statements, whether it’s supporting your local eatery or donating to a Congressional race.

And so we’ve once again reached the point where a big government Congress, lead by big government Democrats, wants to crack down on the First Amendment. Government constantly seeks to take rights away from the people, and today government took its first step towards its most recent success.

By the way: How bad is this legislation? Conservatives and truly ideological liberals united in an attempt to block it. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU both lobbied against the bill. Like I said, this is legislation just waiting to be killed in a 5-4 decision from the high court.