Hillary Clinton doesn't like her opponents funding documentaries that
criticize her, so she demands Congress overturn the Supreme Court
decision that allows it.
The world is full of people who want their enemies to shut up. Some college students get so upset seeing "Trump 2016" chalked on sidewalks that they call the police, demanding the chalkers be punished and their words erased.
But because America's founders added, "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech" to the Constitution, the police have no role here.
Those idiot college protesters want to shut me up. And I want to shut some of them up. But we have to tolerate each other. That's a good thing. The First Amendment helps keep America free.
Of course, the Amendment just says, "Congress shall make no law."
Private groups can limit speech. Fox can fire me if they don't like something I say. So can this website by dropping my column. The NFL can fire Colin Kaepernick for not standing up, and a Black Lives Matter group can expel a member who does.
The First Amendment applies to government. Which is why presidential candidates should get it right. Unfortunately, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton don't.
Both have talked about "closing down" parts of the internet to fight ISIS. When frightened, some politicians promise all kinds of things to look like they're protecting us. But shutting down those areas of the Web may not be technically possible, and if it were, it would mostly hurt innocent people.
That didn't stop Trump or Clinton from proposing it and making sneering comments about free speech.
They should know that rules meant to prevent ISIS from speaking can soon become laws to suppress any opinions that politicians don't like.
http://reason.com/archives/2016/09/07/hillary-clinton-and-donald-trump-vs-free
The world is full of people who want their enemies to shut up. Some college students get so upset seeing "Trump 2016" chalked on sidewalks that they call the police, demanding the chalkers be punished and their words erased.
But because America's founders added, "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech" to the Constitution, the police have no role here.
Those idiot college protesters want to shut me up. And I want to shut some of them up. But we have to tolerate each other. That's a good thing. The First Amendment helps keep America free.
Of course, the Amendment just says, "Congress shall make no law."
Private groups can limit speech. Fox can fire me if they don't like something I say. So can this website by dropping my column. The NFL can fire Colin Kaepernick for not standing up, and a Black Lives Matter group can expel a member who does.
The First Amendment applies to government. Which is why presidential candidates should get it right. Unfortunately, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton don't.
Both have talked about "closing down" parts of the internet to fight ISIS. When frightened, some politicians promise all kinds of things to look like they're protecting us. But shutting down those areas of the Web may not be technically possible, and if it were, it would mostly hurt innocent people.
That didn't stop Trump or Clinton from proposing it and making sneering comments about free speech.
They should know that rules meant to prevent ISIS from speaking can soon become laws to suppress any opinions that politicians don't like.
http://reason.com/archives/2016/09/07/hillary-clinton-and-donald-trump-vs-free
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