iam4nota
Level 2
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Fighting for the First Amendment |
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Posted on: 03/19/03 - 17:49:43 |
Here's the letter/press release I sent to one of the local papers here in Bradley that will be affected by the blatantly unconstitutional bill introduced in the General Assembly by two of our three state legislators (HB1933/SB0972). It appeared in the March 19 edition of the Bradley News Weekly at www.bradleyweekly.com.
Dear Editor:
William Reece Smith, Jr., a well-known American lawyer, has said, "We must remember that a right lost to one is lost to all." The Bradley County Libertarian Party is committed to the principles of Liberty and to the preservation and rescue of our rights, which is why we denounce the so-called "Bunch bill" as an outrageous assault on the rights of the citizens of Bradley County and upon Liberty itself.
Although the sponsors of the bill have deceptively claimed that it is aimed at addressing landfill issues, specifically the depositing of non-subscription-based advertising flyers and newspapers into the landfill, the bill clearly is a legislative gambit designed to silence one or two media outlets in Bradley County. No matter how a person feels about any of the newspapers available in this county, it is time for all reasonable people to stand up and voice their opposition to the callous disregard for the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States, and for the Declaration of Rights in our Tennessee Constitution. Two hundred years ago, the writer Charles Peguy said, "He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers."
Today, we find ourselves faced not with "liars and forgers," but with lawyers and fakers, for anyone who serves in the General Assembly must take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of this state, and the sponsors of the "Bunch bill" have clearly violated that oath when they introduced this bill. They are not true representatives of the people, but rather self-serving, petty tyrants. Instead of dedicated supporters of the constitution of the United States and Tennessee, they are, rather, destroyers of the Republic, slayers of Liberty.
Some of the darkest days in this Republic's history have either been preceded or accompanied by a suppression of the right to free speech and the press. Indeed, we are already in jeopardy through the "Patriot Act"; do we really need our local and state legislators to further place our rights - our liberties - in greater peril?
In Tennessee's Declaration of Rights, we are instructed that the government is instituted for the benefit of the people, and that doing nothing to oppose arbitrary power and oppression is destructive to the good of mankind.
There is nothing in the "Bunch bill" that is of benefit to the people; it benefits only those elected officials who fear the truth, dissent, or both. In other words, they fear Liberty.
It is wrong for us to do nothing to resist this bill, for such an action causes us to be the agents of our own destruction. That is why the Bradley County Libertarian Party calls on all liberty-minded individuals to oppose this bill. We urge everyone to call the sponsors of this bill with your opposition. We urge all residents to call the members of the State & Local Government Committees of both houses of the General Assembly and tell them to reject this bill. We also urge the citizens of this county to boycott the businesses of this bill's sponsors. The Bradley County Libertarian Party is also willing to organize protests at or near their businesses until the bill is withdrawn or defeated.
It is not important whether or not you agree with the views of the Bradley News Weekly; what is important is that you fight this bill for what it is - an attack on Liberty and the destruction of our rights. This fight is not for the Weekly, but for all of us, which brings us back to the William Reece Smith, Jr. quote at the beginning: "We must remember that a right lost to one is lost to all."
By - Ray Ledford
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Pro libertate,
Ray Ledford
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