Letter to the Editor The Miami Herald

January 26, 2010

Letter to the Editor
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693

RE: What happened to the “penumbras”? Where did the “emanations” go? Some musings on your editorial comments on the Supreme Court reinforcing the right to free speech.

Sirs,

Is the newspaper business so bad that you are now opposed to free speech?

Former Senator and former Governors Jon Corzine spent $130,000,000 of his own money in the last 10 years to win 2 out of 3 elections in New Jersey. Was that “fair” to the Jersey version of Joe the Plumber? Do you think that newspapers in New Jersey should have been “encouraged” to run Joe’s ads for free?

You say that “Justice Stephens properly called this decision a radical departure from established law…” Do you think Justice Stephens would have voted against repealing Plessy v Ferguson? It was “established law” for 59 years.

You say that there “is nothing in the First Amendment that would suggest that the Framers intended to protect the rights of corporations to spend freely in elections”. There is nothing in the First Amendment that mandates the separation of church and state either. [You can look it up.]

You refer to the Founders in the reverential tone used by modern American Liberals when it suits them. A bit of Googling on your part would show you that the Founders were deeply religious men who used Natural Law, a “gift from beyond the stars”, that is ours at birth as the basis for our Constitution.

Does anyone know how much money George Soros spent to advance his political beliefs? The money, being his, was his to spend as he saw fit, wasn’t it? Should we “level the playing field” – And if there is a dumber term anywhere I would like to see it – so Jersey Joe the Plumber turned Politician can compete against Corzine or Soros?

I am sure the omission was unintentional but the Supreme Court decision applies to unions also. They are free to spend their members’ dues to promote their political beliefs. Would you apply the same rules to unions that you would apply to corporations for political expenditures? You say that shareholders must “specifically approve the allocation”. There is a plumbers’ union. Jersey Joe may have belonged to it. Should he be allowed to vote on “specific allocations”? Should a dollar amount be applied to the work done by “union volunteers”?

Even though I am a Roman Catholic I am not supposed to question the use of taxpayers’ funds to subsidize the production of the play Corpus Cristi. The play’s premise is that Jesus Christ was crucified because of a homosexual lovers quarrel with Judas Iscariot. Judas, in a fit of pique, dropped a dime on Jesus. As a result of him ratting Jesus out He wound up nailed to a cross.

I am hectored that my religious beliefs are trumped by the playwright’s unfettered right to free speech. One of Justice Stephens’ predecessors wrote “That we must have room for what we hate”.

The Bill of Rights numbers things that the government cannot do.

The First Amendment begins with the majestic words “Congress shall make no law…” The Founders put them in there because they wanted them in there. As someone who was visited 3 times by police for things that I have written I am glad that they are there.

That it took 103 years for the Court to correct a Constitutional mistake is a testament to the document and the men who wrote it.

“Free men speak with free tongues”

Good advice 25 centuries ago; good advice today.





Kevin Smith