Free Speech is Under Attack?

Free speech gets attacked for one reason: Someone doesn't like what someone else has to say.

Restricting speech is folly. We live in a nation that was founded first and foremost on the right to free speech.

The latest attack in Louisiana involves graduation speeches given by co-valedictorians at Ellender High School in Terrebonne Parish. The students honored their parents by giving part of their speeches in Vietnamese, their native language. Some school board members didn't like that and want to adopt policy to stop "foreign languages" from being used in such ceremonies.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, among others, protested. Its letter to the board urged members not to enact a proposal to require only English in the ceremony.

Louisiana law protects native language as a matter of state heritage. Local policy cannot supersede that.

The second attack comes from inside the federal government. Some Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, want to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. That empowers the federal government to monitor broadcast speech for "fairness" and decide if TV and radio stations need to provide additional viewpoints.

The doctrine was in force from 1949 until 1987. By that time there was a proliferation of consumer choices and a variety of viewpoints to be heard.

Currently, conservative views thrive on talk radio, cable news, the Internet and such. That says something about the market: People like what they hear.

That worries liberals. Thus, their interest in the Fairness Doctrine.

This is politics and partisan nonsense at its worst. The doctrine was dumped because of a media explosion -- and that was 20 years ago. Think about all the channels and avenues to communicate that are available today.

Government should not play any part in "balancing" one point of view with another. People can make their own decisions. They do it all the time.

Proponents of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine say it encourages more speech. Don't believe it.

Free speech is precisely that -- free, not forced.

http://www.thetowntalk.com