Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dangerous Attack on Free Speech [David Freddoso]
The proprietor of
this blog claims that he has filed an FEC complaint against Daily Kos. Supposedly, this won't fly, based on earlier FEC rulings, but this is nonetheless an outrage against the First Amendment that every conservative should fight vigorously. Freedom of speech — especially political speech — is our God-given right, as the founding documents of our nation attest.
Granted, there is at least some wry amusement to be had in the fact that the liberals will someday bite their own rear ends with their unconstitutional, anti-free-speech campaign-finance-reform laws. In fact, this may be the only way to wake them up. But no good conservative can make a justification for using the power of government to silence political opponents.
The blogger filing the complaint makes the following argument:
[Daily Kos] surely spends at least $1,000 per year in hosting and based on what they charge (and get) for advertising, their support of candidates is certainly worth over $1,000 per year. Lastly, their
self-identified purpose is to influence elections in the Democrats favor. They fit the criteria.
Some will argue that this is a slippery slope that will snare all bloggers. First, most bloggers aren't organizations. Second, most bloggers are read by like 3 people and their posts are certainly not worth $1,000. Third, most bloggers don't exist for the primary purpose of electing certain people to federal office.
A better question to ask is can a political committee avoid campaign regulations by simply organizing in the form of a blog? Surely not.
The point here is that Kos directly advocates election of Democrats. Well, good for him. None of this is an argument for regulating Kos, but rather an argument for abolishing the silly campaign finance regime that that the Kos-krazies and their ilk have pushed on us for a generation now. Why should the federal government get involved at all if I'm advocating a particular candidate, or encouraging others to donate or vote in a particular way?
Isn't that what free speech is all about? Didn't the Founders talk about political speech as the most important kind of free speech? Or is the First Amendment somehow reserved for the practice of offending Christians with museum exhibits?
07/24 08:00 AM
Share
