Posted on 03/16/2012 5:35:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
The First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from infringing upon the freedom of speech, the freedom of association and the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Speech is language and other forms of expression; and association and petition connote physical presence in reasonable proximity to those of like mind and to government officials, so as to make your opinions known to them.
The Declaration of Independence recognizes all three freedoms as stemming from our humanity. So, what happens if you can speak freely, but the government officials at whom your speech is aimed refuse to hear you? And what happens if your right to associate and to petition the government is confined to areas where those of like mind and the government are not present? This is coming to a street corner near you.
Certain rights, like thought and privacy and travel, can be exercised on their own. You don't need the government to cooperate with you; you just need to be left alone. Other rights, like those intended to influence the political process, require that the government not resist your exercise of them. Remember the old one-liner from Philosophy 101: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make any noise? Here's the contemporary version of that: If you can criticize the government, but it refuses to hear you, does your exercise of the freedom of speech have any value?
When the Framers of the Constitution wrote the First Amendment, they lived in a society in which anyone could walk up to George Washington or John Adams or Thomas Jefferson on a public street and say directly to them whatever one wished. They never dreamed of a regal-like force of armed agents keeping public officials away from the public, as we have today. And they never imagined that it could be a felony for anyone to congregate in public within earshot or eyesight of certain government officials. And yet, today in America, it is.
Last week, President Obama signed into law the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. This law permits Secret Service agents to designate any place they wish as a place where free speech, association and petition of the government are prohibited. And it permits the Secret Service to make these determinations based on the content of speech.
Thus, federal agents whose work is to protect public officials and their friends may prohibit the speech and the gatherings of folks who disagree with those officials or permit the speech and the gatherings of those who would praise them, even though the First Amendment condemns content-based speech discrimination by the government. The new law also provides that anyone who gathers in a "restricted" area may be prosecuted. And because the statute does not require the government to prove intent, a person accidentally in a restricted area can be charged and prosecuted, as well.
Permitting people to express publicly their opinions to the president only at a time and in a place and manner such that he cannot hear them violates the First Amendment because it guarantees the right to useful speech; and unheard political speech is politically useless. The same may be said of the rights to associate and to petition. If peaceful public assembly and public expression of political demands on the government can be restricted to places where government officials cannot be confronted, then those rights, too, have been neutered.
Political speech is in the highest category of protected speech. This is not about drowning out the president in the Oval Office. This is about letting him know what we think of his work when he leaves the White House. This is speech intended to influence the political process.
This abominable legislation enjoyed overwhelming support from both political parties in Congress because the establishment loves power, fears dissent and hates inconvenience, and it doesn't give a damn about the Constitution. It passed the Senate by unanimous consent, and only three members of the House voted against it. And the president signed it in secret. It is more typical of contemporary China than America. It is more George III than George Washington.
The whole purpose of the First Amendment is to assure open, wide, robust, uninhibited political debate, debate that can be seen and heard by those it seeks to challenge and influence, whether it is convenient for them or not. Anything short of that turns the First Amendment into a mirage.
Now, where were the RINOs when this travesty occurred?
If the SS (coincidence here?) is holding the gun, you betcha.
If I’m the one holding the gun, not so much.
.
“only three members of the House voted against it”
Anyone know who?
Welcome to the new normal...
Like I said before, and got some very welcomed cousel on my comment...
“What are you prepared to do about it, and what are you willing to sacrifice for it?”
It is your own personal line in the sand...No need to broadcast what you think you are going to do about it, if the line is crossed...
It is the ultimate gut-check question, one that is rhetorical, and does not need to be answered in a public forum...That has always been the intent of that statement/question, to illicite a personal, introspective look at yourself, and what is important to yuo and what you believe in...
All of us need to decide when enough is enough...And honestly, you may not know it till it happens...
The enemy of freedom has always been at the gates...We are losing the people we thought we had confidense in, to man the walls and that gate...
Time for us to ready up, and prepare to do what other do not have the guts to do...I believe we can still take care of the problem at the ballot box...When we totally lose that capability, I’m sure some folks will take an objective view of the situation at that time...
Just my opinion...
Muh bad on the mis-direct...Sorry Rocco...But hey, you still might like the ping...
Now, not only can they tell you to shut up, they can use deadly force against you if you don’t. And when they do wag after wag on this forum will opine and post that you got what you deserved and how heroicaly they shot you down. And for good measure they take out your wife, children and dog
The SS needs to abide by their constitutional oathe....
Ron Paul was one of the three. Don’t remember the other two names. They were both Republicans though.
Paul Broun, and Justin Amash.
May God guide our course.
Tatt
It's more George III than George III. This is Star Chamber stuff.
Cardinal Torquemada, call your office.
Huh? What a dumb post
Ya beat me to it!
47,000,000 doubt that it will occur...
Why? See #28.
“Praetorian Guard?”
Janissaries.
” - - - The First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from infringing upon the freedom of speech, the freedom of association and the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Yep. Now who has the guts to enforce it? Certainly not the US House RINOs who voted for the FRBGI Act.
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