The Soros threat to democracy

Investors Business Daily shines some sunlight on George Soros’s secret promotion of unworthy causes through the inaptly named Open Society Institute. (The editorial is one in a series on Soros and MoveOn.org that IBD compiles here.) IBD criticizes the lag between OSI’s financial support and the disclosure of the support:

Soros’ “shaping public policies,” as OSI calls it, is not illegal. But it’s a problem for democracy because it drives issues with cash and then only lets the public know about it after it’s old news.
That means the public makes decisions about issues without understanding the special agendas of groups behind them.
Without more transparency, it amounts to political manipulation. This leads to cynicism. As word of these short-term covert ops gets out, the public grows to distrust what it hears and tunes out.
The irony here is that Soros claims to be an advocate of an “open society.” His OSI does just the legal minimum to disclose its activities. The public shouldn’t have to wait until an annual report is out before the light is flipped on about the Open Society’s political action.

The IBD editorial provides some striking examples of the malign causes supported by Soros and the illusions fostered by delayed disclosure of financial support. The editorial doesn’t go so far as to propose a specific reform, but it appears to have something like the required quarterly campaign finance filings in mind.

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