The Looming Threat of Government Regulation to Blogsphere, Brought to Us by Campaign Finance Reform

Read this extremely important Democracy Project posting about the looming threats to our freedom of speech in the blogsphere, brought to us by McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform and the insatiable appetite of big government to limit our freedom as American citizens:

...[Federal Election Commission member Bradley] Smith...is one of six commissioners at the FEC, and one of three Republicans. He says that a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly may pave the way for significant federal regulation of the Internet, including blogs. Indeed, the title of the piece is "The coming crackdown on blogging." The possibilities that Smith lays out are chilling and, if enacted, could spell the end of blogging as we know it. Indeed, it could turn much of what is published on the Net into a samizdat-style activity.

Sound alarmist? Read on. It all stems, of course, from McCain-Feingold, the absurd and (pace the Supreme Court) unconstitutional curtailment of political speech in violation of the First Amendment. Both Senators, and the Democratic members of the Commission, favor regulating political speech on the Internet, lest bloggers and electronic publications enjoy an advantage over print publications. This is a huge power grab by elements of the federal bureaucracy who are threatened by New Media, and a first step by those forces to shut down political speech they don't like.

You have to love it: The latest form of campaign finance reform does nothing to stop the flow of money into politics but it does lead to attempts to restrict our liberty. Recent Anchor Rising postings on this subject are here and here.

Read the posting and follow the links. And be worried, very worried.