President Obama Declares War on Free Speech

If you’ve been listening, you’ll realize that the First Amendment, our Freedom of Speech, is under attack by no less than the President of the United States. During the State of the Union Speech the president declared war on the first amendment attacking the Supreme Court of the United States and the press.

When the Supreme Court upheld the right to freedom of speech, for all not just some, Obama declared it a priority to fight to limit what and when powerful unions can speak. Concerning the SCOTUS’ decision to allow Labor Unions and other groups of people to express political speech near elections, Obama said, "I can't think of anything more devastating to the public interest.” WOW! The act of individual people pooling their money together to finance political speech during election season is “devastating to the public interest.” Isn’t that exactly what the first amendment is supposed to protect?

Obama listed some of his enemies in the State of the Union speech last night. His enemies are not Islamists who vow to destroy western civilization and the USA specifically; he declared that “TV pundits” are the enemy.

I’m at a loss for words to describe my feelings when the President of the United States says people freely expressing their political opinions are enemies. “TV Pundits” have no real power, they don’t have an army, they are not calling for violence, they can’t make laws, they can’t put people in jail, they can’t change taxes, and they aren’t trying to silence those who don’t agree with them, they are people in America exercising their first amendment rights. The only power TV pundits have is the power of thier Ideas. If your opinions, looks and personality are popular enough that others are willing to pay you to broadcast them, and the President doesn't like what you say, then you’re an enemy.

This whole enemies list smacks of leftist governments like the Cuba, China and former regimes like USSR, socialist Japan, and Fascist Germany, which do everything they can to control the media and what ideas people are exposed. The last American president to declare the media as enemies was Nixon, who was routinely called and considered a fascist by the pundits. Nixon considered pundits enemies because he knew if he was exposed he would be out of a job and powerless. What is Obama hiding if he has to declare that those who don’t agree with him are enemies?

If his ideas, policies, and actions cannot stand criticism, maybe it’s because they are not what the people want. Obama has ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, the NY Times, and most other major newspapers all promoting leftist ideas. Considering the huge left tilt of mass media, if the ideas expressed by one TV network and a dozen talk radio hosts can influence enough people to effectively stop his agenda, then maybe he should consider that the country doesn’t want his fascist implementation of European socialism. In the battlefield of ideas, Obama’s ideas, and the left’s ideas in general are losing. Declaring TV pundits “enemies”, during the State of the Union, is the act of a desperate man who has lost control of the message, and fears being exposed.

Our democracy depends upon free speech, not just for some but for all, that includes TV Pundits, or bloggers, or even corporations and labor unions.