Constitutional Rights Under Seige?

The Pirate’s Pen once again has a strong piece up, this time on efforts to squelch free speech rights via the so-called Fairness Doctrine.

The issue has been in the news off and on for a few years and has become more topical since President Obama’s election.  The most recent reason for it being in the news is a statement by Sen Debbie Stabenow to liberal radio host Bill Press that she intended to hold hearings and had been in discussion with fellow Democrats on these hearings.  Of course, Stabenow has a direct interest in this issue since her husband is an owner of a failed liberal radio network and would financially benefit from silencing conservative radio.

Since Stabenow’s statement and the Pirate’s Pen post, Sen Tom Harkin has echoed her call for the Fairness Doctrine.

Although President Obama voices  his opposition to the Fairness Doctrine, Reason Magazine points out how Obama can do harm just through his appointments to the FCC.  The Wall Street Journal has also addressed the ways Obama can silence conservatives.

So while Obama says the right thing on the Fairness Doctrine, I don’t think conservatives should feel safe.  Democrats in Congress seemed determined to shut down Rush Limbaugh and others.  If he thinks he can get away with yet another broken promise, I’m sure he will.  He may be waiting for with Limbaugh or Hannity to say something that angers the public – perhaps something taken out of context.

Obama surely seemed willing to squelch people’s free speech rights during the campaign, suing those who ran ads against him.

Obama certainly is supporter of campaign finance reform limits on free speech, although he abandoned his own pledge to take public funding.

He has a history of opposing 2nd Amendment rights, although he had a sudden conversion in the months before the election.  Pirate’s Pen has previously identified Congressional efforts to ban more guns in this new Congress.

While not a right specifically guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, surely the secret ballot is a foundational right necessary for democracy and rule of law.  President Obama is not particularly concerned about it as evidenced by his efforts to take that right away from workers.  The need to keep union dues pouring into Democrat coffers takes precedence over the right to a sacred ballot.

The right to life, obviously is another right that gets downgraded in this Administration.

I’m sure we’ll identify more Constutional rights that Obama and the Democrats don’t care about as time goes by.