43 Democrats in the Senate have signed onto a bill to effectively repeal the First Amendment. This month a cloture motion was introduced in order to stop debate and move the bill forward.
S.J.Res.19 would effectively give Congress the power to control any political speech in the United States.
Led by Harry Reid, the bill would eliminate the ability of campaigns, political parties and outside groups to spend money in elections. We would all like to see corruption via campaign spending to end, but to eliminate the 1st Amendment is not the way to do it.
Limiting or ending your rights is often initiated under the guise of addressing a problem ‘we all agree on’ and this is no different.
“What the amendment [to the Constitution] would do if adopted is give Congress plenary authority, absolute authority, to regulate all political speech,” stated Ted Cruz, who warned us last week this was coming.
Saying the foundations of democracy are threatened, Senate Democrats took the first step Tuesday to rewrite the First Amendment, holding a hearing to rally support for their proposed constitutional change that would give government the power to ban all spending on political campaigns.
The effort drew vows of resistance from Republicans, who harangued Democrats for abandoning free speech rights for political gain. Republican lawmakers said the solution was for Democrats to improve their arguments, not to silence their critics in an assault on fundamental freedoms.
“Where are the liberals today? Why is there not a liberal standing here defending the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment?” Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, demanded of his Democratic colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Forty-three Democrats are sponsoring the amendment, which would give Congress and the states powers to set strict limits — or eliminate — the ability of campaigns, political parties and outside groups to spend money in elections.
Democrats said they were spurred by several recent Supreme Court rulings that have freed up outside groups to spend money advertising for their points of view in elections, leading to a flood of cash, much of it spent anonymously, in the 2012 election.
testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Examining a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Democracy to the American People” focusing on campaign finance on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)Enlarge Photo
testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Examining a Constitutional Amendment … more >Signaling the stakes in the fight, the Senate’s top Democrat and Republican testified at the hearing, mounting feverish attacks on each other.
“We sit here today with a simple choice: We can keep the status quo and argue all day and all night, weekends, forever about whose billionaires are right, whose billionaires are wrong, or we can work together to change the system, to get this shady money out of our democracy and restore the basic principles of one American, one vote,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. Reid acknowledged that he felt “so unclean” after his hard-fought 1998 Senate campaign, when one major donor contributed a quarter of a million dollars to the Nevada Democratic Party and let Mr. Reid know he had done so — apparently an effort to curry favor.
“I hope that didn’t corrupt me, but it was corrupting,” Mr. Reid said.
He continued his assault on the conservative Koch brothers, two billionaires who fund conservative causes and who have become special targets for Mr. Reid.
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said Mr. Reid was attacking the Koch brothers as a smoke screen for “how incredibly bad this proposed amendment is.”
He said even liberal lions such as the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy voted against this kind of effort. Indeed, a 2001 effort to amend the Constitution on campaign finance was defeated by a 56-40 vote, and a 1997 effort was defeated by an even wider 61-39 vote.
Mr. McConnell said Democrats’ push this year is an election strategy, not a serious effort to work through constitutional issues.
“This proposal is never going to pass Congress. This is a political exercise and that’s all it is. The goal here is to stir up one party’s political base so they’ll show up in November,” he said.
The amendment Democrats are pursuing is strikingly broad. If ratified, the amendment would let federal and state governments set limits on how much money could be contributed to campaigns, spent by candidates or raised and spent by outside interest groups such as the National Rifle Association or the Sierra Club.
funny, his Senate Dem. PAC has spent over $33,000,000….I’m sure it wouldn’t apply to that special interest group…….
It’s not a matter of being a Democrat or Republican what we as a nation need to do is throw what calls it’s self our government and that includes Obama out in the street drop the pay for the job of Congress Senate etc . to minimum wage then maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about losing our constitutional rights because these politicians would have to get second jobs to make ends meet.
well now the republicans should take and run with this one on campaign trail
Nowadays, claiming to be a democrat is exactly the same thing as claiming to be a communist who hates America as it has been for well over 200 yrs. Republicans have as well lost their way. If you love freedom, you must push for and vote for a Libertarian.
We know it’s only to shut up the republicans.
Somebody please change that old goat Harry Reid’s DIAPER because he is full of SH&T.
Somebody should fill his bathtub, or pool with tea.
wkrakr says:
“why are we letting this government take all our FREEDOMS from us that our FOREFATHERS fought so hard for? why are we letting the man in the WHITE HOUSE trample OUR CONSTITUTION? This corrupt man and the officials that hold seats in the house, senate, and congress have a plan for OUR COUNTRY and it’s not going to be in the interest of the AMERICAN CITIZENS or OUR COUNTRY. why for GODS SAKE is no one stopping these power and money hungry pigs? Mark my words, if nothing is done soon about the corruption coming out of the WH we’re going to have a very big problem. Their taking away all the freedoms that were made through the blood, sweat and tears of those before us. Yet no one wants to get bloody to keep these freedoms. Why are we just sitting by and letting OUR COUNTRY go straight into muslom communism? Why are OUR TROOPS not in their OWN COUNTRY fighting for OUR FREEDOMS instead of being in Africa fighting Ebola? do they want their children and grandchildren living in a country with no FREEDOM? Do they want to be ruled by a tyrant that does what he wants whenever he wants with no consequences, writing illegal laws on a whim. Is this what OUR TROOPS want for OUR COUNTRY? We THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED OUR MILITARY HERE TO FIGHT THE ENEMIES THAT HOLD OUR WH. The enemies within. That’s who we should be fighting now, before all is lost. COME HOME SOLDIER’S AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN or stay where your at under rule of a traitor to OUR VERY OWN COUNTRY.and watch as the illegals, musloms and money grubbers in DC take over YOUR RED, WHITE AND BLUE?”
From: http://www.truthandaction.org/democrats-move-end-free-speech/comment-page-100/#comment-629444
why are we letting this government take all our FREEDOMS from us that our FOREFATHERS fought so hard for? why are we letting the man in the WHITE HOUSE trample OUR CONSTITUTION? This corrupt man and the officials that hold seats in the house, senate, and congress have a plan for OUR COUNTRY and it’s not going to be in the interest of the AMERICAN CITIZENS or OUR COUNTRY. why for GODS SAKE is no one stopping these power and money hungry pigs? Mark my words, if nothing is done soon about the corruption coming out of the WH we’re going to have a very big problem. Their taking away all the freedoms that were made through the blood, sweat and tears of those before us. Yet no one wants to get bloody to keep these freedoms. Why are we just sitting by and letting OUR COUNTRY go straight into muslom communism? Why are OUR TROOPS not in their OWN COUNTRY fighting for OUR FREEDOMS instead of being in Africa fighting Ebola? do they want their children and grandchildren living in a country with no FREEDOM? Do they want to be ruled by a tyrant that does what he wants whenever he wants with no consequences, writing illegal laws on a whim. Is this what OUR TROOPS want for OUR COUNTRY? We THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED OUR MILITARY HERE TO FIGHT THE ENEMIES THAT HOLD OUR WH. The enemies within. That’s who we should be fighting now, before all is lost. COME HOME SOLDIER’S AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN or stay where your at under rule of a traitor to OUR VERY OWN COUNTRY.and watch as the illegals, musloms and money grubbers in DC take over YOUR RED, WHITE AND BLUE?
He’s butt ugly so his kids might b too lol