Felonious Advocacy

Felonious Advocacy - Fancy words for the end of free speech.

by Jacob Sullum - April 1st, 2009 - Reason Online

"I'm a little disoriented here," Justice Antonin Scalia said during last week's oral arguments in a case involving legal restrictions on movies that criticize politicians. "We are dealing with a constitutional provision, are we not, the one that I remember, which says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press?"

Scalia's discombobulation was understandable, given that Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart had just claimed the First Amendment does not bar the government from telling interest groups what videos they may post online or what books they may publish.

There is no such thing as freedom of speech when government can punish you for saying something they think is improper. Freedom of speech is also non existent on college campuses when the right of someone to say something is subservient to the rights of those who create a disturbance so they cannot speak.

What we have currently is idiocy and will lead to more and more violence. Our judges will not stop liberal hooligans from creating riots to stop conservative speech and, at least recently, has not been willing to allow conservatives to speak during political campaigns. If government officials in public positions of authority side with one political view and allow the other side to be suppressed, what choice do we have but to revolt? Our rights have already been taken and we are slaves.