Thursday, November 03, 2005

Democrats Are Against Free Speech?



Yesterday, Nov 2nd, the House Democrats successfully voted down the Online Freedom of Speech Act.

77% of the House Democrats voted against the act, or abstained from voting, in contrast to the 78% of House Republicans who voted for it.

The Online Freedom of Speech Act ammends Paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. The 1971 Act regulates disclosure of Election Campaign finances. Paragraph 22 of this act defines Public Communications, such as television, telephone, mail, newspapers, etc. The purpose of the amendment voted on yesterday was to exclude internet communication from the list of Public Communications. Essentially making all internet communications exempt from all Election Campaign finance rules.

I'm inclined to agree with the Democrats on this one. This vote was not about free speech as some people would have you believe. I agree with a lot of the limits set on what candidates can and can't do during Election Campaigns, and I would hate to see the Internet become an unrestrained vehicle for politic ads. Lets keep the internet focused on its main purpose, the distribution of free pornography.

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