"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."
That is the complete text of Amendment I to the United States Constitiution, which was ratified by December 15, 1791 and has since then been the law of the land. And yet, "law of the land" and the clear language above notwithstanding, it is undeniably true that by December 15 of this year the voters of this country will have elected to the presidency a candidate who is not committed to the principle of free speech. May it not be Senator John McCain.
Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute quotes Senator McCain from an appearance on the Don Imus radio show:
Sen. McCain was once asked whether McCain-Feingold abridges freedom of speech. He implicitly admitted that it does: "I would rather have a clean government than one where quote 'First Amendment rights' are being respected that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government." We should tell Sen. McCain and those who agree with him that a government which strips us of our right to free speech is by that very fact corrupt.
Senator McCain, no one asked you what you'd rather have -- largely, I suppose, because few people trust you. You created and sponsored this legislation, the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection ActBipartisan Campaign Reform Act, and you've been defending it ever since 1995.
People, forget the Keating Five scandal. Forget the annoyance of seeing journalist after journalist characterize this lifetime Washington insider as a "maverick." Forget even his famous temper (although I do fully expect to see Senator McCain's head explode on national television). John McCain's successful strike at free speech makes him unfit for any federal office, including the one he now holds. We do not stand to benefit by electing him to executive office.
Read Yaron Brook's column here.
Read the text of the Bill of Rights and the rest of the US Consitution here. You could navigate to it from the US Senate's home page, but why would you bother?
More comments from Gus Van Horn -- including some links, and his views on Matt Welch's anti-McCain comments -- here.
Posted by Craig Ceely at March 28, 2008 01:34 PM