Patterico's Pontifications

3/12/2005

“Read” Does Not Mean “Trust”

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:22 pm



I subscribe to the L.A. Times and read it online. According to this guy, that means I trust it.

Beldar on the Online Petition

Filed under: Civil Liberties — Patterico @ 3:58 pm



Beldar e-mails to say that he tried to leave the following comment on this post below, regarding my decision not to sign the online petition opposing FEC regulation of blogs :

I almost decided not to sign on for the same reasons you express, Patterico, and I certainly respect your decision. I too wish that Congress would change the statute and that the Supremes would change their precedent upholding it. Ultimately, however, I focused on the target of this petition, the FEC, which doesn’t have the power to do either. Rather, it has some sort of mandate from Congress that, for now, the courts have refused to hold unconstitutional. So the FEC will be regulating some things, and at a minimum, it will be regulating paid political advertising on the internet. I decided that I could and should urge the FEC not to push things farther in the “wrong” direction, notwithstanding my frustrations with Congress and the Supremes.

I respect Beldar and dozens of other bloggers who have signed the petition. I just have an honest disagreement with them about how to address this issue.

As I explained in my previous post, I don’t think citizens should ever ask their government for permission to engage in political speech.

If a guy breaks into your home, are you going to politely ask him to consider staying out of your favorite room? Or are you going to tell him to get the hell out of your house, and shoot him if he refuses?

As Americans, free political speech is our house. Blogs may be our favorite room, but others will have their own favorite rooms. The government has no right to be in the house, period.

I want government out — now. And if it won’t get out, we need to make sure we have some way to force it out.

I don’t intend to ask politely. Just get out. Now.

P.S. Beldar is the second person in as many days to say he had a problem leaving a comment. If you are having such a problem, make sure JavaScript is enabled on your browser. If you still have a problem, e-mail me at patterico -AT- patterico -DOT- com.


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