The FEC, a body that has done an excellent job of ensuring that the most crucial part of a healthy democracy — freedom of political speech — is as muzzled as possible is now considering regulating political speech on the Internet:
In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign’s Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate’s press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines.
That’s right, if the FEC had its way this would be illegal. And so would this.
Such absolutely unconscionable (as well as unconstitutional) assaults on the rights of free speech are not a partisan issue – which is why both left and right are united in fighting it. Blogs, political mailing lists, web forums, and other places are one of the last few bastions of unrestricted political speech left in this country. Democracy is sustained by the multiplicity of voices contained within – as James Madison wrote in the Federalist #10:
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.
What the FEC is trying to do is exactly what James Madison warned us about over two centuries ago. They’re trying to reduce faction by reducing liberty – which is a dangerous and foolhardy thing to do. Stifling the free exchange of ideals in the way the FEC plans to is an affront to the basic values of our Republic.
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