Are Free Speech And Political Speech Two Different Things?
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.
