Tim Elston wrote:dolfan wrote:It shouldn't be very long before forums such as this one are tightly controlled by the government.
Tim, do you really believe that? If so, on what basis? If it doesn't happen, will you be inclined to look back on whatever other radical paranoia you may have about government, Democrats, etc., and question it?
First, and again, I'll say that this is not about Democrats or Republicans. Line them all up and blame them all equally as far as I'm concerned.
If the Congress can make a law that newspapers can't endorse candidates, no matter what the incentives are, what's to keep them from making any other rule about expression? The very heart of the First Amendment is being ripped out and stomped flat with this proposal. If the newspaper syndicates are told not to endorse a particular candidate, why should the power of government stop while a little Christian forum crosses the road in front of it?
James Madison stated that, "The security of the freedom of the press requires that it should be exempt, not only from previous restraint of the executive, as in Great Britain; but from legislative restraint also; and this exemption, not only from the previous inspection of licensers, but from the subsequent penalty of laws." What greater penalty than being squashed out of being for lack of funds can you impose on a corporation?
And, the intertwining of the relationships between freedoms of press and religion are undeniable and explicit.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Fellow Alabamian and former Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Black wrote, "The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny." Freedom of expression in the press, in the pulpit, from the pew, from the privacy of home or in the petition of those gathered for that purpose of seeking redress of grievances is the last barrier between all other freedoms and their demise. Once that barrier is breached, tyranny wins.
There's historical and current reason to believe it, too. From Lenin's obliteration of a free press (not that there was much of one under the czar) to China's blocking of YouTube this week. If Congress passes this law, it is on a par with China. Government absorbs power. It never gets enough. Once it gains, it can't yield. If this power over the press is allowed by the people, then time is the one variable that separates you and I from being free to express anything here. I won't have to reweigh my paranoia, which I freely admit and own up to.
