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Posted on 07/17/2014 3:37:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Beware of liberals claiming to defend ‘the public.’
Supporters of campaign finance laws have been apoplectic since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on corporate political ads in Citizens United. Having lost another big case this year in McCutcheon v. FEC, they now want to write their views directly into the Constitution.
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment that would let government limit contributions to candidates and spending by and on behalf of them. The House will take up a similar proposal soon. To see where this amendment would lead if enacted, consider that the law in Citizens United prevented a group from distributing a film that criticized Hillary Clinton during her last presidential bid. During arguments in the case, the government’s lawyer admitted that the law could apply to books as well.
At the core of this effort is the very dangerous view that freedom of speech isn’t an inalienable individual right—a right to say what you want regardless of what others think—but a privilege that we exercise at the sufferance of “the public.”
This is the prevailing view among many intellectuals and politicians today. Justice Breyer expressed it in dissent in McCutcheon joined by his three colleagues on the left. In his view, the First Amendment protects the “public’s interest” in having its “collective speech matter.” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, echoed this view when he complained in advance of a hearing on the proposed amendment that the Court is ignoring “the voices of all Americans” in order to “amplify the voices of billionaires and corporations.”.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Anything else lets someone make a decision about permissible speech, which is anathema to the underlying concept of the 1st Amendment!
Some times it really is Bush's Fault! He opened the door for 90% of the mess today + he never should have ceded the office to a foreigner!
Whatever....
That’s not gonna happen...
ALL speech is permitted, period. No ifs, ands or buts. No limitations, of any sort. No prior restraint of any kind. RIGHTS are absolute. If someone slanders, libels or defames someone else, there are laws in place to deal with it. If someone falsely yells “Fire” in your theater, there are laws to deal with inciting a riot or whatever. ALL SPEECH is permitted and protected. Period.
This is a fools errand for the left. We should encourage them to spend a lot of resources on it. Because it’s going nowhere.
http://feedly.com/e/CmW22XEI. There are those who refuse to follow orders that would be unconstitutional. They proved that in Murrieta California. KUDOS!
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