Say "No!" to the FEC Blog Exception Petition

Patterico over at Patterico's Pontifications has raised his voice against the on line petition seeking a "blogging exception" to Federal Election Commission regulation in his post A Lone Voice in the Wilderness.

He is not alone and his voice should not be the only one raised in pointing out the dangers of seeking to carve out "exceptions" of any type to rules or regulations that violate our free speech rights. Patterico is exactly right when he writes:

In my view, political speech is speech at the core of the First Amendment. Neither the FEC nor any other government agency has any right to regulate it in any way. When my right to engage in such speech is threatened, my impulse is not to seek out a law carving out some exception for my speech. My impulse is to tell those responsible that they can go to hell.

Look at the big picture, folks. This isn't about our precious Internet. It's about the very concept of free speech.

As I stated in my comment to his post

There continues to be be apparent confusion between the rights that are inherent in the American people -such as free speech - and those that another form of government can deign to bestow on its people. The First Amendment recognizes that distinction. Seeking an "exception" to a law that violates the First Amendment implicitly reverses the power of the American citizen to speak or write freely without seeking government permission first, a very dangerous proposition and exceptionally dangerous precedent indeed.

Join your voices with Patterico's (and mine) and just say "No!" to any idea that the FEC might have the right to control free speech - refuse to sign the petition and warn your readers and friends of the dangers it poses to our true rights.