Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Tongue
Campaign-finance reform, whether pushed by Republicans such as John McCain or Democrats such as Russ Feingold, is being foisted on an unsuspecting American public as the way to clean up the corrupt political process. In reality, it is the way for the powerful political insiders to further control what is said at election time and thus control election results. Yes, the governing class wants you to shut up, pay your taxes and believe what they tell you. They will decide what is best for you, your family, our country and the world itself.
The silencing of Americans has been underway for some time. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (commonly known as McCain-Feingold) was a major step in limiting our freedom of speech and our political involvement. Emboldened by that success, the governing class is moving to squelch political speech even more by putting political groups known as "527 organizations" -- like the Swift Boat Veterans -- out of business. The U.S. House will vote on such regulation tomorrow. The bill is H.R. 513.
The Liberty Committee and Gun Owners of America (GOA) say "yes" to free speech; "no" to H.R. 513. GOA warns, "it is clear that the enemies of Free Speech are choosing their targets. First, Senators like John McCain regulated (in 2002) the ability of such groups like GOA to use radio and TV to criticize any candidate before an election.
"Then, earlier this year, McCain & Co. wanted to further regulate GOA and similar organizations by requiring them to register their 'grassroots' communications with their members and to file twice as many frivolous reports.
"Now this new legislation (HR 513) would try to strengthen the Anti-Free Speech beachhead to limit even more avenues to free speech.
"The restrictions on our liberties need to end here."
The Club for Growth, Americans for Tax Reform, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, and the National Taxpayers Union sent a letter to members of Congress saying, "All of our groups believe strongly in free speech, unfettered expression of ideas and the right of association enshrined by the Constitution. It is precisely these First Amendment freedoms that this horrendous proposal [H.R. 513] threatens."
In an editorial yesterday, the New Hampshire Union Leader stated: "Americans have allowed the government to muzzle them one little law at a time. They've let the government tell them how much they can spend to elect their fellow citizens to office, what they can say during election campaigns, and when they can say it. And with each new law, the appetite of the governing class only grows.
"It will not be satisfied until it has outlawed as much dissent as possible. If Americans want to retain their rights to petition the government and criticize its actions, they must begin to resist these efforts to nibble away at those rights. Opposing the GOP's 527 regulations would be a good start."
Speak now or forever hold your tongue. The U.S. House will vote tomorrow on whether to hold your tongue. Tell your U.S. representative to vote "no" on H.R. 513. As Gun Owners of America said, "The restrictions on our liberties need to end here."
Call your U.S. representative. The main switchboard is 202-224-3121.
Speak up!
Kent Snyder
