New England Patriots Forums - PatsFans.com Patriots Fan Messageboard

New England Patriots Forums - PatsFans.com Patriots Fan Messageboard (http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/)

- Political Discussion (http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/12/political-discussion.html)

- - Politicians against free speech (http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/12/919384-politicians-against-free-speech.html)

Politicians against free speech

Well the assault on the First amendment continues It began long ago when H Clinton suggested 'gatekeepers' were needed since unfettered opinions were dangerous in her mind:

Down with Gatekeepers: Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration vs. Internet Freedom | The Libertarian Standard

Quote:

“We’re all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gatekeeping function…"

Note here how IP (reputation rights are a type of IP) is once more at the root of the threat to the Internet (one reason I have concluded that copyright is even worse than patent). Of course the political elites–the real 1%–and the Big Media they are in cahoots with, hate the lack of the official “gatekeeper” function. They hate the Internet, social media, talk radio, podcasting, cell phones, twitter, and video cameras.

Then we have a constitutional amendment being proposed to circumcise the First Amendment:

Quote:

McGovern stresses that his amendment decrees that “all corporate entities — for-profit and nonprofit alike” — have no constitutional rights. So Congress — and state legislatures and local governments — could regulate to the point of proscription political speech, or any other speech, by the Sierra Club, the National Rifle Association, NARAL Pro-Choice America, or any of the other tens of thousands of nonprofit advocacy groups, including political parties and campaign committees.
Newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, online journalism — and most religious institutions — are corporate entities. McGovern’s amendment would strip them of all constitutional rights. By doing so, the amendment would empower the government to do much more than proscribe speech.

Read more: Infringing on free speech—George F. Will - NYPOST.com

Then local pols in NY State want to limit anonymous opinions in the internet that criticize politicians, of course the implications are far wider.

Quote:

Senate sponsor Tom O’Mara (R-Elmira) pitched it as a cyberbullying bill, but it’s actually a much wider attack on free speech.

The bill requires that blogs, social networks and other sites remove “any comments” by anonymous commenters simply “upon request” from anyone, or else force the commenters to provide real names.

That is, not only are mean words verboten (as the bills’ sponsors would have you believe). Any anonymous posts are subject to censorship. For any reason.

Read more: Albany GOP’s Web censorship bill—Editorial - NYPOST.com

Politicians hate free speech and having to answer to citizens.

Re: Politicians against free speech

Both parties at times have expressed discomfort and even hostility to the First Amendment. This really is shocking and sad to me, because we are literally one of the only places in the world that understands how important this amendment is.

We really need to be aware of the kind of legislation, whether (R) or (D), that erodes our First Amendment rights and stand against it.

Re: Politicians against free speech

There are a number of legitimate issues:
(1) How do we protect intellectual rights without stronger enforcement of copyrights?
Whether one is an individual author, a publishing house, an independent filmmaker, or part of Hollywood, how do we protect their rights? That's a valid question.
(2) My guess is that McGovern's constitutional proposal has nothing to do with the first amendment, and everything to do with the fourteenth amendment which was exploited by corporations to turn corporations into people. The People's Rights Amendment | freespeechforpeople.org
(3) As far as what local politicians do, this points to my issue with states rights. If you give power to the states, you give power to a lot of people who fall below the radar and are corrupt, incompetent, and stupid.

There's actually nothing in your links that's of concern in my opinion, except that we have to be vigilant to ensure that copyright law does not infringe on legitimate reuse of material.

Re: Politicians against free speech

incumbents are against free speech
everyone else is for it