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Resist the Tyranny of Censorship
Newsletter by Oregon State Senator Doug Whitsett, Senate
District 28 11/30/16
Political discourse before, during and following the
recent elections seems to have been more divisive than
usual. The rhetoric has often been inaccurate, sometimes
intentionally misleading, or otherwise just plain
malicious.
During the past several months, such dialogue was
commonly employed at the national, state and local
levels. Citizens have protested in the streets carrying
acrimonious signage and chanting slogans that many find
offensive.
Some of those demonstrations turned violent and resulted
in personal injuries and significant damage to private
property. Those responsible for injuries and property
damage should be held responsible.
Many continue to express their outrage. They allege
feeling upset, hurt, offended, or suffering personal
insult by seeing, hearing or reading passionately
expressed diverse political opinion.
Incredibly, many of our universities are the focus of
this ferment of indignation. Several of the same
campuses that developed “celebrating diversity” have
become hotbeds of political correctness. Both students
and faculty seek out safe havens where they are
protected from free speech.
However, it is not all that divisive and acrimonious
discourse that threatens our nation. Rather, it is the
attempts to suppress the freedom to assemble and speak
freely that is our greatest danger.
Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1755: "Those who would give
up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Throughout
history, political despots have acquired and maintained
tyrannical power by persuading their citizens to give up
their freedom in exchange for security.
First, political leaders disarm their “subjects” by
convincing them the confiscation of their weapons will
create a safer society. Once their citizens have no
means of self- protection, any who dare to express
divergent political opinions are persecuted, prosecuted
and often imprisoned. Hundreds of millions have lost
their lives for expressing political opinions that are
unpopular with their rulers.
Our nation’s founders clearly understood that inherent
danger. Rough and tumble political rhetoric has been the
American Way since before our constitutions were
drafted. In 1765, more than 20 years before he helped
draft the United States Constitution, John Adams, our
Second President wrote: “Be not intimidated...nor suffer
yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any
pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as
they are often used, are but three different names for
hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.”
His words are as true today as they were 250 years ago.
The first Amendment to the United States Constitution
states in part:
Congress shall make no law…. abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people
peaceably to assemble…
Section 8 of the Oregon Constitution’s Bill of
Rights states:
No law shall be passed restraining the free expression
of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or
print freely on any subject whatever; BUT every person
shall be responsible for the abuse of this right.—
Our founders clearly reserved for Americans the
constitutional rights to freely speak, and write our
opinions, on any matter whatsoever. Those rights of free
expression are only limited by personal responsibility
and the laws governing libel, slander and malicious
lies.
In the United States, federal laws regarding defamation
are closely tied to the First Amendment. In short, that
body of law has consistently and reliably determined
that opinion is not considered defamation in the United
States.
The only expression that is not protected under our
Constitutional free-speech provisions are false
statements of fact that harm the reputation of an
individual or business. Only those who willfully make
harmful, declarative statements that can be proven false
in a court of law can be lawfully prosecuted for what
they say or write. This remains true, no matter how
offensive some may consider the rhetoric.
Yet too many Americans are allowing ourselves to be
intimidated from expressing our political views. We
refrain from expressing our opinions out of our concern
for the threat that others may consider our thoughts
indelicate, impolite, offensive, indecent or even
hateful.
Moreover, much of the press, the broadcast media and too
many universities are quick to label dissenting opinion
as hate speech. The tools of these would-be speech
police are labels such as “racist,” “bigots,” “sexist,”
“homophobe,” “misogynist” and “supremacists.”
They employ those terms to discourage opposing political
discourse through applying peer pressure and using the
media to create public shame and humiliation. They imply
the threat of potential prosecution under laws that
forbid “hate speech.” Their purpose is intimidation and
their desired result is to quash opposing political
discourse.
Our country was formed as a constitutional republic. It
was to be ruled by duly enacted laws that conform to the
principles enumerated in our Constitution. We all should
respect that rule of law.
However, we must never give up our rights to freely
assemble and to express our free and unfettered
opinions. We must especially maintain our right to
express our grievances regarding how well our laws
comport with those constitutional principles.
No duly enacted law can constitutionally restrict our
freedom to speak and write our thoughts and opinions. We
still have the constitutional right to express our
opinions to anyone, on any subject matter, whatsoever!
That right is under attack today to a greater degree
than anytime during my lifetime. We must not succumb. It
must not be our generation that trades essential
freedoms for a little temporary security.
Please remember--if we do not stand up for rural Oregon,
no one will.
Best Regards,
Doug
Senate District 28
Email:
Sen.DougWhitsett@state.or.us
I Phone: 503-986-1728
Address: 900 Court St NE, S-311, Salem, OR 97301
Website:
http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/whitsett |
