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May 21, 2010
Will Big Government Soon Crack Down on Blogs?
Posted by Dave Blount at May 21, 2010 8:51 AM
This is ominous:
Last week, a congressional hearing exposed an effort to give another agency — the Federal Election Commission — unprecedented power to regulate political speech online. At a House Administration Committee hearing last Tuesday, Patton Boggs attorney William McGinley explained that the sloppy statutory language in the "DISCLOSE Act" would extend the FEC's control over broadcast communications to all "covered communications," including the blogosphere.
The DISCLOSE Act's purpose, according to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Chris Van Hollen and other "reformers," is simply to require disclosure of corporate and union political speech after the Supreme Court's January decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission held that the government could not ban political expenditures by companies, nonprofit groups, and labor unions.
The bill, however, would radically redefine how the FEC regulates political commentary. A section of the DISCLOSE Act would exempt traditional media outlets from coordination regulations, but the exemption does not include bloggers, only "a communication appearing in a news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication…"
The Obamunist agenda is anything but popular. Having painted themselves into a corner and alienated the public, our current rulers have two choices: 1) listen to the people, slow down, and back down; or 2) crush opposition, starting with those who can't afford to buy protection in the courts. Given his radical background, there is little chance our Community Organizer in Chief will opt for the former.
Hat tip: Hot Air. On a tip from J.
