So much for the First Amendment. Led (unfortunately) by one of my U.S. Senators, Tom Udall (D-NM), Senate Democrats are trying to curtail free speech, all in the name of “campaign finance reform.” That anyone would be stupid enough to do such a thing speaks volumes about the current state of the Democrat Party in America.
In the 223 years since the ratification of the Bill of Rights, there have never been any serious attempts to change any of the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution. Leave it to an increasingly leftist and authoritarian Democrat-controlled Senate (hopefully for not too much longer) to do what traditional liberals (not leftists), would never have countenanced. Writes George Will, in a stinging rebuke of this madness:
The Democrats’ amendment says: “Congress and the states may regulate and set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections,” and may “prohibit” corporations – including nonprofit issue advocacy corporations (such as the Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice America and thousands of others across the political spectrum) from spending any money “to influence elections,” which is what most of them exist to do. . . . That it would leave political speech less protected than pornography, political protests at funerals and Nazi parades. That by aiming to equalize the political influence of persons and groups, it would reverse the 1976 Buckley decision joined by such champions of free expression as Justices William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall and Potter Stewart. That one reason President Harry Truman vetoed the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act was that he considered its ban on corporations and unions making independent expenditures to affect federal elections a “dangerous intrusion on free speech.”
The increasing assault on the First Amendment by many in today’s Democrat Party reveals a disdain for freedoms that previous generations have fought and died for. Can you imagine if conservative Republicans or Tea Party types like Ted Cruz were to offer similar amendments to the Bill of Rights? The media, along with leftist Democrats (usually the same thing), would be up in arms. It is quite ironic, then, that Senator Cruz is the voice of reason among his extremist colleagues on the issue of free speech in America:
The majority leader, and the Democratic [Party] majority in this Senate have determined that the most important priority this Senate has, which we are spending the entire week addressing, is the proposal of 49 Democrats to repeal the free speech provisions of the First Amendment.”
While I do not always agree with Ted Cruz’s politics or tactics, he is spot-on when it comes to the Democrats’ desire to radically change what the First Amendment says with regard to Americans’ right to practice free speech. While we still have the right, why not contact your Senator or Representative and tell them to keep their grubby, slimy hands off of OUR Bill of Rights!