URGENT! OBAMA Signs Anti-Protest Bill - FREE SPEECH & Protest will get you JAIL TIME!

URGENT! OBAMA Signs Anti-Protest Bill - FREE SPEECH & Protest will get you JAIL TIME!

The First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from infringing upon the freedom of speech, the freedom of association and the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Speech is language and other forms of expression; and association and petition connote physical presence in reasonable proximity to those of like mind and to government officials, so as to make your opinions known to them.

The Declaration of Independence recognizes all three freedoms as stemming from our humanity. So, what happens if you can speak freely, but the government officials at whom your speech is aimed refuse to hear you? And what happens if your right to associate and to petition the government is confined to areas where those of like mind and the government are not present? This is coming to a street corner near you.

Certain rights, like thought and privacy and travel, can be exercised on their own. You don't need the government to cooperate with you; you just need to be left alone. Other rights, like those intended to influence the political process, require that the government not resist your exercise of them. Remember the old one-liner from Philosophy 101: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make any noise? Here's the contemporary version of that: If you can criticize the government, but it refuses to hear you, does your exercise of the freedom of speech have any value?

When the framers of the Constitution wrote the First Amendment, they lived in a society in which anyone could walk up to George Washington or John Adams or Thomas Jefferson on a public street and say directly to them whatever one wished. They never dreamed of a regal-like force of armed agents keeping public officials away from the public, as we have today. And they never imagined that it could be a felony for anyone to congregate in public within earshot or eyesight of certain government officials. And yet, today in America, it is.

Last week, President Obama signed into law the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. This law permits Secret Service agents to designate any place they wish as a place where free speech, association and petition of the government are prohibited. And it permits the Secret Service to make these determinations based on the content of speech.

Thus, federal agents whose work is to protect public officials and their friends may prohibit the speech and the gatherings of folks who disagree with those officials or permit the speech and the gatherings of those who would praise them, even though the First Amendment condemns content-based speech discrimination by the government. The new law also provides that anyone who gathers in a "restricted" area may be prosecuted. And because the statute does not require the government to prove intent, a person accidentally in a restricted area can be charged and prosecuted, as well.

Permitting people to express publicly their opinions to the president only at a time and in a place and manner such that he cannot hear them violates the First Amendment because it guarantees the right to useful speech; and unheard political speech is politically useless. The same may be said of the rights to associate and to petition. If peaceful public assembly and public expression of political demands on the government can be restricted to places where government officials cannot be confronted, then those rights, too, have been neutered.

Political speech is in the highest category of protected speech. This is not about drowning out the president in the Oval Office. This is about letting him know what we think of his work when he leaves the White House. This is speech intended to influence the political process.

tags: free speech news 2012 bill obama protest hr347 arrest charges secret service felony year in jail 1st amendment president congress no zones ban right to we the people judge andrew napolitano fox 829speedy human rights alex jones infowars protection civil liberty vote ron paul

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  News & Politics

[TOMG12XU]

Good thing they made room for the protesters in jail by setting the illegals free.

[directorman12]

Strength through unity, unity through faith. REVOLUTION

[supersnigeln007]

This world is just fine, we in the rest of the 95% av the world are doing great. Ohh sorry except the countries you have invaded.

Sorry to say that but the US population only makes up 4.57% of the worlds population in total.

[dadreamzworld]

I think its about controlling your anger.

[Scott Hancock]

My great x 5 grandfather knew these men (the founding fathers). I can not be sure but I do not think they sat around waiting to see what else the king had in store for them. They took action...something no-one else is doing. We do not need rifles...we need a national strike. Shut this entire nation down and send a message to our oppressors and to the world...give us a little time and WE will deal with these snakes in Washington D.C. Time for talking has long passed...time to act or they will win

[Krillep]

This world is going straight to hell. Obama and the powerelite take controll over our free speech.

[directorman12]

its from a movie dont cry over it buddy

[davidLAMF]

Pssst... This is Fox news.. *hint* *hint*

[Evito Cruor]

Did and can since there aint people on the streets to unequivocally saying no, enforced with force if the state (police, military etc) try to prevent you.

[Evito Cruor]

Yeah real smart, how about picking something nondivisive as a means of unifying population against established government. Even if you could get all faithful together what would replace the state would be just as bad, theocracy.

What you need to rally around is the Constitution. Thats the one truly common thing all Americans have.

[A Bird]

Adam Kokesh  march on dc july 4 2013

[kingofcobwebs]

Coming?!