…Neither you nor I, nor any small business owner, or interested local grass-roots group, will ever have the time or resources to risk tangling with complex “speech” laws, loaded with trip wires. Speech becomes a luxury commodity protected for the wealthy and well-connected, at the exclusion of a majority of the populace.
If and when smaller groups of citizens or business owners attempt to combine resources to compete in “free speech” any real risk will be met head on by political professionals who will file lawsuits or complaints based on speech limiting legislation. Political parties, progressive non-profits, and corporate speakers, will have the money and resources to pursue even fraudulent accusations, if they even find they have to. The mere threat of a protracted suit and the costs to private businesses or citizens will typically be more than enough to silence them. This is a deliberate feature of any movement to control paid speech. Remember, the goal is not to silence the rich politically motivated professional speakers, it is to silence the general population so that only the ‘experts’ in politics, law, industry, and the media may be heard.
– Steve Mac Donald, Blogger/Editor- GraniteGrok.com
Emphasis mine. Time and time again, we see politicians on both sides of the aisle deciding that which the Framers held to the highest societal good, unregulated free political speech, is in need of regulation for our own good. As Steve points out, every time they do so, it ends up not for our good, but for their good and for all the reasons Steve enumerates (and more in his post and in the ones I’ve put up).
And the sponsors of SB120 (Republicans NH State Senator Jeb Bradley, NH State Senator Carson, NH State Senator Bob Odell, NH Rep Shawn Jasper and lone Democrat NH Rep Gary Richardson) all believe that you all can’t handle actual Free Speech.
Or, is it that they can’t ? Call them, email them – let them know: Free Speech and not their speech.
