Are Free Speech And Political Speech Two Different Things?

• March 16, 2009

Apparently, according to the Washington Post. Which is pretty unbelievable, isn’t it? Because what else besides political speech did our founders intend when they wrote the first amendment?
Obviously all speech should be free speech, with each individual citizen being held responsible for the repercussions of their speech (slander, etc.), but it seems now that our political and media elite are segregating political speech out as something different that may require more scrutiny and regulation. Meaning that you can say whatever you want if you’re talking about the new Tom Hanks movie, or the latest antics of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but if you speak up about health care or about a politician… well that’s different.
Which is awful, isn’t it? The antics of our celebrity royalty are plenty entertaining for some, but political free speech is one of the cornerstones upon which our democracy is built. We shouldn’t be limiting what citizens or groups can say about policies or political leaders any more than we should be limiting what movie reviewers can write about the latest films.
I don’t think we’ll ever explicitly lose our first amendment rights. I don’t think there will ever be a politician, or a voting bloc, with enough clout to amend the first amendment. But I do think that the political and media elite could remove our right to free speech by essentially regulating it out of existence. By making it so difficult to speak up, unless you’re in compliance with dozens of regulations and have a full law firm on retainer just in case, that most people don’t even bother.
Which is the same thing they’re trying to do with things like gun rights. They know they can’t remove the second amendment. Or the first amendment. They know they’ll never be able to ban guns outright or end free speech altogether.. But they can make it so difficult through regulation to own guns or speak out politically that, again, most people won’t even bother.
And then they’ve won. We’re the subjects, and they’re the rulers.

Tags: Asshats, Domestic Issues, Politics

http://Array docdave

The Supreme Court should rethink the approach taken by their earlier deliberations and toss the BCRA out altogether

Really. It’s the federal courts that have kept this travesty alive as they have with other questionable decisions concerning abortion, homosexuality, no-knock warrants, etc. It makes one wonder if any of the justices have ever read the US Constitution.

The courts have traditinally been look upon as the force that dampens the power seeking legislature and executive branches. That was the intent of the founders, a judiciary that limited federal power to that specified in the constitution. In my opinion, the courts have not performed very admirably in that regard.

It’s probably no coincident that when there is a revolution the judges are some of the first to be imprisoned and/or executed.
SigFan

Freedom of political, social, religious, whatever speech is guaranteed by the 1st amendment. There are many here whose posts I find objectionable, and conversely they probably find mine disagreeable as well. The difference though is that while I may not like what they say, I would defend their freedom to express it. Of course this right does not extend to liable and slander, but if it is a simple case of disagreeing with what someone else says – tough – none of us are forced to listen.

Rob is right, chip away, little by little and eventually it all comes tumbling down. Allowing the government to continually erode our rights, or simply put up barriers around them that make it increasingly difficult to exercise them will ultimately lead to having no rights at all.
Pfeh

It’s all about how you cook the frog. It’s best done by boiling – start lukewarm, and keep raising the heat until tender and delicious.
Claude

@SigFan – I agree with you, but there comes a time when the other side is intent on trampling on your rights as though they don’t exist, we must stop them. Unfortunately rational discussion no longer works.
SigFan

Claude –

I understand your position and to a large extent agree with it. I am as pro 2nd amendment as it is possible to be, in fact without the 2nd, the 1st would go away even more rapidly. I guess I just take the whole Constitution and Bill of Rights to heart and feel like it extends to every American, even those I don’t like or agree with.
Claude

Unlike SigFan, I won’t defend the first amendment right of anyone who won’t do the same for my second amendment rights.
http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/ Bruce

I’m with SigFan.

I will take up arms, if needed, to defend the right of delusional douchebags like Dino to say all the batshit crazy horseshit they want, even though I know full well that he and his ilk would not reciprocate and use their first amendment rights to speak up in defense of my right to arms.

It’s called being a principled grown-up.
http://suitepotato.blogspot.com/ sayanything-4808

Another thing people are overlooking is the trade for what you have in return for what doesn’t exist. They slowly take away through unconstitutional regulations our rights knowing that until the US Supreme Court rules finally on the constitutionality, that their edicts are enforceable in the meantime (like waiting for King Richard to return from the crusades, in the meantime challengers play Robin Hood in the lower courts).

All the way along they tempt our baser natures with all sorts of nonexistent rights that are not only not recognized in the Constitution but aren’t rationally rights at all. You cannot have a right to the fruits of others’ labors but we set that up in various guises as a right. You cannot have a right to kill other people at will, yet we have that in abortion. You cannot have a right to get rid of your children, yet we are increasingly allowing parents to jettison their kids no questions asked. You cannot have a right to be taken care of, but we have made that a right in various ways.

Seldom do people ever ask themselves, if they can take away the rights we do have and have recognized in the constitution, what is to stop them from taking away these other phony-baloney rights later?

The answer is nothing. Bait and switch is found in many forms. The robbing of the people of their rights is one.

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