“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.”
[Jeffrey] Toobin responded that the court seems to be saying that “we give freedom of speech to people that engage in hateful speech, and so we have to give freedom of speech to people who want to give to political campaigns.” On the other hand, he noted, the dissenting justices basically said “that is all a bunch of nonsense” and that “speech is not money.” But they were defeated by a 5-to-4 margin.
The Bill of Rights was not a vehicle by which Government “gives” us Rights at all – although that is one of the end points of the Left (have us believe just that). No, the Bill of Rights simply enumerates Rights that pre-existed before the existence of our Government. Instead, Government is to protect our Rights (cherished, even) in order to have a Free Society.
And btw and for the record, the Freedom of Speech exists ESPECIALLY to protect speech that might be judged by some (or all) to be hateful, odious, wrong, wrong headed, or just stuff you don’t like. Everyone has the right to speak – but that doesn’t mean that anyone has to listen. And that is the difference between me and the Left – my Right means I can freely practice it but the Left’s version of a “right” means that you must participate in anyone else’s “right” whether you like it or not.
