It isn’t that Stan Cox, Republican Rep. from Sedalia, isn’t making a valid point: he complains about the sneaky way campaign contributors smuggle funds to politicians in both parties through a labyrinth of PACs. Cox (aka Undead Charleton Heston) says that the current system “can be defined no better than money laundering. It’s a circuitous route of getting the money somewhere for the purpose of deceiving the people.”

Too true. And Democrats do their share of it. They have to. To stick strictly to the limits would be to disarm unilaterally. But Cox’s bill achieves transparency by lifting all campaign contribution limits. That’s like criminalizing embezzlement even as you legalize armed robbery. Armed robbery is certainly a more transparent crime. But it’s still…not…right.

In the nineties, Missourians voted for campaign contribution limits. They wanted to stop the wholesale auctioning off of our legislature. No matter how righteous Cox and the Republicans pretend to be, they’re flouting the will of the people.

Mr. Cox and other Republican legislators: Put your guns down now and surrender peacefully.