Obama Signs Away First Amendment Rights
President Obama has further eroded the rights granted to us by the First Amendment. He signed the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 into law yesterday. As reported by The Huffington Post:
Under the new legislation, protests must be held at least 300 feet from military funerals and are prohibited two hours before or after a service.
This may seem like a harmless law that will serve to protect the burial of those who have died serving this country. To the contrary, the President’s endorsement of this law offers a challenge to the Supreme Court which, just over a year ago, upheld the first amendment and defended the always controversial Westboro Baptist Church right to protest during a military funeral. A jury had found members of the Westboro Baptist Church liable for millions of dollars in damages due to their vulgar protest at the funeral of a soldier. In the Supreme Court’s opinion, Chief Roberts concluded:
Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and—as it did here—inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a Nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate. That choice requires that we shield Westboro from tort liability for its picketing in this case.
The lunatics at the Westboro Baptist Church should be afforded the same rights as all U.S. citizens. Just like the CEO of Chick-Fil-A is allowed to publicly state his opinion on same-sex marriage and divorce. The issue boils down to a simple statement. We cannot allow the government, at any level, to exert force with the intention of influencing the speech of free men. We have to be vigilant in defending all forms of free speech, no matter how vulgar they may seem.In the instance of Chick-Fil-A, local politicians were grandstanding by threatening to shut down existing restaurants or not allowing the opening of new locations in their district due to the opinions of the CEO. You don’t have to agree with the CEO of Chick-Fil-A or the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in order to stand up for their right to speak freely regarding the cause which they support.If we allow the government to be the ruling party and decide the forms of speech that are considered tolerable, then why did we even fight independence from the rule of the King of England? Once the slope gets slippery, the slide towards tyranny happens quickly.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
