America has less freedom of speech today than it has ever had in its history. So wrote Professor Thomas West last year in his important essay “The liberal assault on freedom of speech.” It is easy to be misled by the fact that the Supreme Court has extended First Amendment protection to such activities as nude dancing and flag burning. Yet where it counts, in the area of political speech, the Supreme Court has abdicated its responsibility.
In the new issue of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, Brian Anderson elaborates on the threats to speech posed by the regulatory activity of the administrative state: “The plot to shush Rush and O’Reilly.” Like Professor West, Anderson begins with the the bill that Senator Hatch described in our meeting with him this week as one of the the worst in modern history, the McCain-Feingold bill. Anderson also documents the left’s attempt to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine in order to suppress talk radio. Like West’s, Anderson’s is an important essay sounding the alarm regarding a fundamental threat to the freedom of the American people.
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