The Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign yesterday filed a 67-page complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing billionaire George Soros and an array of liberal political groups of what the complaint called “an illegal conspiracy,” and “the largest illegal infusion of soft money from wealthy individuals, unions, corporations and other special interests in the post-Watergate era.” The lawyers for the RNC and the Bush campaign then asked the FEC to dismiss the complaint so they can seek relief in federal court in Washington. It warns that if the activities of the liberal groups continue, “irreparable harm” would result that would “effectively destroy and make meaningless the campaign finance system mandated by Congress in 2002.”

The RNC complaint makes for interesting reading, particularly for anyone who had still labored under the delusion that the Sierra Club is a nonpartisan environmental organization as opposed to a political group. The RNC complaint cites a recent internal Sierra Club memorandum to “Volunteer Leaders and Staff” that refers to “the Board mandate that stopping, as well as replacing, Bush are the Sierra Club’s highest priorities for the next fourteen months.” The memo said, “It is important that we all respect the need for flexibility and keep our eye on the bullseye — stopping Bush.” The Republicans and the Bush-Cheney campaign accuse the Sierra Club of “an illegal coordinated expenditure of soft money on behalf of the Kerry campaign.” A Sierra Club spokesman didn’t respond yesterday to our inquiry about the memo and Republican allegations.

But for all the illuminating documents and overheated rhetoric about a “massive conspiracy to corrupt the federal finance system,” what the Republican National Committee is essentially doing is accusing the Democrats of violating a law — the McCain-Feingold campaign speech regulations — that the Republican National Committee itself tried, in the case of McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, to get the Supreme Court to rule was unconstitutional.

The RNC argued to the court that the 2002 law was a violation of the First Amendment. But it was a hard argument to make for a party whose leader signed the confounded law. Now they’re in the position of trying to block Mr. Soros and the Sierra Club from participating in the American political system.

We disagree with Mr. Soros on most everything. But the right way for the Republicans to deal with him and the array of groups like The Media Fund, America Coming Together, and moveon.org is not to try to get the courts to shut them down.

It is to seek donors and found groups of their own to argue against the liberal ideas and for conservative ones. That approach would bless the electorate with more political speech and information, not less.