As we continue in our theme of individual liberty from last week where we discussed the commerce clause, we want to focus today on free speech.

There is no concept of freedom dearer to the hearts of the American people than that of free speech. The Constitution states in the first amendment:

“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.”

For our purposes today the first right in the Bill of Rights following the establishment clause states:

“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.”

Today we want to focus on one particular encroachment on this all important right that has recently been passed by both House and Senate, (Read the rest of the story below the fold...)

John Fund of the Wall Street Opinion Journal, has picked up on the story first broke in the New York Post, last Thursday which we posted on here. In his followup story entitled, Astroturf Politics, How liberal foundations fooled Congress into passing McCain-Feingold, he further develops and elaborates on the hi-jacking of the US Congress and the general public concerning campaign finance reform. The entire article can be read at the link above. The following is an excerpt of Mr. Fund’s article:

“The successful stealth campaign by the eight liberal foundations means we now have to live in the Brave New World of McCain-Feingold. Bradley Smith, a Federal Election Commission member, made news this month by warning that bloggers could face federal regulation because a federal judge had thrown out their legal exemption from campaign finance regulations. The Internet has been (Read the rest of the story below the fold...)

Captain Ed, of Captain’s Quarters Blog wrote yesterday, Bloggers Have Been Heard, in which he gives Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) praise for introducing a bill that would exempt “Internet communications from FEC regulation altogether:”

“Paragraph 22 of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(22)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: “Such term shall not include communications over the Internet.”

We add our thanks to Senator Reid for his action, and hope the bill is passed and signed into law. We would further suggest, that the BCRA (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act - McCain-Feingold) of 2002 be repealed altogether in light of how it was brought into being, and the corruption behind it, as we posted here, yesterday.

Please read Captain Ed’s entire post, linked above, and we add our thanks to him, for helping lead the charge against FEC regulation of Blogs.

If you remember the movie, The Sting from a few years ago, you will know how it feels to have the wool pulled over your eyes. That is exactly what has happened to the American people concerning campaign finance reform. The truth has finally come out.

Real Clear Politics yesterday pointed to an article by Ryan Sager in yesterday’s New York Post, entitled, Buying ‘Reform’. You simply must read the entire article to be fully informed.

Mr. Sager, has a tape “”of a conference held at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication in March of 2004”” in which “Sean Treglia, a former program officer of the Pew Charitable Trusts” has confessed to the scam.

As Mr. Sager outlines, “The Story in Brief” from the tape:

“Charged with promoting campaign-finance reform when he joined Pew in the mid-1990s, Treglia came up with a three-pronged strategy: (Read the rest of the story below the fold...)

In the aftermath of the “blogger firestorm” generated by FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith last week, there are now some critical assessments concerning this issue. Our thanks to Instapundit, for pointing to the latter two writers.

Three well known personalities have written post-appraisals concerning whether or not there could, or should be blogger regulation by the FEC.

Hugh Hewitt, syndicated radio talk show host, and Professor of Constitutional Law at Chapman University Law School says,

“I have been teaching the First Amendment for a decade, and it isn’t going to happen because it would be patently and obviously unconstitutional to classify the content of a political blog –which is essentially a cyber-newspaper– as within the purview of the FEC.”

His full statement entitled, Lions, and tigers and bears, oh my!, can be read here.

Richard Hasen, is a professor specializing in election law at (Read the rest of the story below the fold...)

The widespread story of yesterday concerning the FEC regulation of blogs, and even e-mail that has political references has been substantiated.

The Washington Times in an op-ed piece today entitled Excesses in McCain-Feingold, certainly lends weight to the accuracy of the story. An excerpt on their take on the subject is quoted here:

“But last September U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly overturned the decision, arguing that the “commission’s exclusion of Internet communications from the coordinated communications regulation severely undermines” the law’s purpose. Interpreting this, Mr. Smith told CNET News that “any coordinated activity over the Internet would need to be regulated, as a minimum.” This includes, but is not limited to, blogs and other sources of political news and opinion that might link to a candidate’s Web page. This leaves bloggers and online news sources in a state of regulatory limbo. “Would a link to a candidate’s (Read the rest of the story below the fold...)

Far more than rumors, Cnet News, has an article entitled The coming crackdown on blogging, which will devastate political opinion on blogger websites.

This detriment to the rights of citizens to express their opinions, is one of the many consequences of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. It is as well, an assault on the First Amendment to the Constitution and the freedom of speech. Captain’s Quarters has a great letter that should be copied and pasted into an E-Mail to both of your Senators from your home state. You may do so with the Captain’s permission, leaving out his introduction and add your own, as well as changing the names. Townhall has a page where you can get the e-mail address, phone numbers, fax numbers, etc. of your Senators and Congressmen.

The PCB posted here, concerning the importance of (Read the rest of the story below the fold...)