by James Bopp Jr.: There is a perennial impulse among governing powers to make political dissent illegal. The Framers of our Constitution, well acquainted with this impulse, squarely countered it by vesting the powers of government with the people. This principle firmly established that it was perfectly within the rights of the people to criticize their government. The American government was to be an act of self-government by the people, and the First Amendment was to ensure the people’s participation in their own government by protecting the “four indispensable democratic freedoms” of speech, press, assembly, and petitioning the government. Thus, the First Amendment was intended to deprive the government of the power to silence criticism of official actions. But the temptation to use government power to silence opponents is a powerful one ... [Read More] - {James Bopp, Jr. is lead counsel for Wisconsin Right to Life. He is the principle attorney at Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom in Terre Haute, Indiana, and serves as general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech.}Tags: dissent, FEC, Federal Election Commission, free speech, McCain-Feingold, Right to Life, US Supreme Court, Wisconsin To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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