Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Liberals Champion Freedom of Speech -- Except in Politics
Townhall.com ^ | June 27, 2014 | Michael Barone

Posted on 06/27/2014 9:38:11 AM PDT by Kaslin

I'm old enough to remember when American liberals cherished the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. They celebrated especially the freedom accorded those with unpopular beliefs and protested attempts to squelch the expression of differing opinions.

Today things are different. American liberals are not challenging the Supreme Court rulings extending First Amendment protection to nude dancers, flag burners and students wearing antiwar armbands. They are content to leave these as forms of protected free speech.

But political speech is a whole other thing. Currently 43 Democratic senators are so-sponsoring the constitutional amendment introduced by New Mexico's Sen. Tom Udall to amend the First Amendment so that it no longer protects political speech.

"To protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes," the text reads, "Congress shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect to federal elections," including limits on contributions to and spending by or against candidates. The same power is given to state governments.

Delphically, the amendment adds, "Nothing in this article shall be construed to grant Congress the power to abridge the freedom of the press." So the New York Times can keep commenting on elections. Maybe bloggers can, too. (Are they the press?)

But if you want to run an ad on television or send out a mailing opposing a candidate's stand on an issue, these 43 Democratic senators want to shut you down.

Too much conversation could muddy the waters, apparently. And note that spending against a candidate can be barred (incumbents hate well-financed challengers) and that "in-kind equivalents" -- gas money to circulate petitions? shoe leather? -- can be limited.

Many Democrats have been hopping mad about the exercise of free political speech since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. That's the case President Obama criticized in front of several justices in his 2011 State of the Union address.

Citizens United is a corporation that produced something called "Hillary: The Movie" and wanted to show it within 30 days of the 2008 Democratic primaries. The lower courts said this violated the 2002 McCain-Feingold limitations on "electioneering communications." The Supreme Court said it was free speech, protected by the First Amendment.

Over the years, supporters of campaign finance regulation, not all of them Democrats, have argued that spending money is not speech. But it's hard to think of any way of communicating your ideas to others, even over the Internet, without spending money.

A louder response to Citizens United is that it is preposterous to say that corporations have a right to free speech. Only individuals do. Which, I suppose, means that the New York Times could be restricted as long as it's a corporation, but not if it were personally owned by Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr.

This is not the only example of liberals trying to squelch unwelcome speech. Read the Lois Lerner Internal Revenue Service emails that someone somehow didn't manage to destroy, and you see a liberal self-righteously determined to silence opponents.

Similarly, the runaway Democratic prosecutors in Wisconsin, since slapped down by a state and a federal judge, sought to intimidate people who wanted to advocate policies supported by Gov. Scott Walker.

Where does this speech-squelching impulse come from? Perhaps a sense of victimization.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who lets few bills or amendments come to the Senate floor, has been orating for days against billionaires Charles and David Koch. Their offense is to advocate their ideas and encourage election of people who agree with them.

"The decisions by the Supreme Court have left the American people with a status quo in which one side's billionaires are pitted against the other side's billionaires," Reid said the other day. "Except one side doesn't have many billionaires."

Nonsense. George Soros. Penny Pritzker. Tom Steyer, who has pledged $100 million to Keystone XL pipeline opponents, is meeting with top officials in the White House on Wednesday. There are dozens of other well-heeled Democrats.

Fifty years ago, Republicans had a big financial advantage, and few rich people backed liberals. That may account for the mindset of Reid (born 1939, first elected to public office 1968).

Not all liberals feel that way. Carl Levin (born 1934, first elected to public office 1968) is one of 12 Senate Democrats not co-sponsoring the Udall amendment. Perhaps he remembers, as I do, the good old days when liberals defended free speech.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 06/27/2014 9:38:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Of course, this is directly against the purpose of the First Amendment, which was in the Bill of Rights to protect political speech as anyone knows who has read the Founders. It was not about how many f-bombs one could spew in a movie. For uncivil behavior such as that in colonial times, you still deserved being put in the stocks.


2 posted on 06/27/2014 9:50:29 AM PDT by txrefugee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Liberals Champion Freedom of Speech -- Except in Politics

Wrong again, Mikey. Except for THEM, regardless of the venue or cause, no one else.

3 posted on 06/27/2014 10:17:04 AM PDT by Common Sense 101 (Hey libs... If your theories fly in the face of reality, it's not reality that's wrong.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Common Sense 101

And even then, only if the RIGHT ideas are being expressed.


4 posted on 06/27/2014 10:33:33 AM PDT by Luircin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Liberals Champion Freedom of Speech -- Except in Politics

...and everywhere else.

5 posted on 06/27/2014 2:42:24 PM PDT by stevem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Congress regulating what candidates coming in to take their jobs can raise? Conflict of interest, pure and simple.


6 posted on 06/27/2014 3:27:36 PM PDT by unseelie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Leftists do not champion freedom of speech in any venue, who wrote this crappy headline?


7 posted on 06/27/2014 3:28:13 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson