Thursday, June 17, 2010

The so-called DISCLOSE ACT, an attack on free speech and the right to know what our Congressmen stand for. .

I recieved this email about a new bill Congress is trying to pass which is an attack on the rights of Americans to speak freely about those in office and the right to even know what they stand for. It is an outrage and even if they don't succeed, it's disturbing that they're even trying to do this. America is looking more like a communist country as time goes on.

I include comments of my own in brackets
The email says:

The right to speak one’s mind is so fundamental that the FIRST Amendment of the Bill of Rights includes this promise: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.”

But today’s pro-abortion Democratic Congressional leaders read the 1st Amendment very differently. They would have the 1st Amendment read: Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech, unless it’s speech about incumbent Congressmen like us. Then we will restrict it.

Take the new “DISCLOSE Act.” The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a law that severely restricted groups like National Right to Life from even mentioning the name of a Congressman or bringing his voting record to the public’s attention during the period leading up to his re-election campaign.

[Apparently certain Congressmen don't think we have the right to know what they stand for. We most certainly DO have the right to know and let others know what they stand for. They work for us.]

Congressmen don’t like groups like National Right to Life talking about their records. It’s inconvenient. But the Supreme Court said, in effect, “too bad. Citizens (and citizen groups) have that right.” They struck down the law as unconstitutional.

Undaunted by the Supreme Court’s recognition of our free speech rights, now Congress is trying to limit our speech with another approach: punish groups who speak out about them by forcing the groups to provide confidential donor lists and other sensitive information to the government. They call this set of punishments the “DISCLOSE Act.”

[I think we have to ask why the government wants information on confidential donor lists and other sensitive information...]

But not all organizations would be punished. Certain allies of the pro-abortion leaders in Congress, like the mainstream media, are exempt. They can continue to
comment about members of Congress without fear of punishment. And the bill is skewed to give advantages to other allies, such as unions.

But if you’re any one of a number of other Americans, including a member of the National Right to Life Committee which speaks for the unborn, forget it. The 1st Amendment no longer applies.