Ted Cruz Champions Right to Free Speech

Image: Gage Skidmore

I have some important disagreements with Senator Ted Cruz, but on the issue of free speech Cruz has emerged as a champion of individual rights and the First Amendment. FreedomWorks recently released a video in which Cruz takes to task Democrats who wish to amend the First Amendment in light of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and to allow Congress to regulate political speech:

Our Constitution in this country is rightly revered, and, among the [sections of the] Constitution, nothing is more revered that the Bill of Rights. And, within the Bill of Rights, nothing is more revered than the First Amendment, and the protection of free speech.

Now, in over two-hundred years of our nation’s history, we’ve never amended the Bill of Rights, and yet forty-two Democrats are proposing to do so . . . .

There are some folks who keep insisting, oh, it is hyperbole, it is exaggeration, to say this is repealing the First Amendment. Well, the First Amendment says, Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. This law says Congress can regulate political speech.

I will tell you, any politician who put his or her name to an amendment taking away the free speech rights of every American, in my view should be embarrassed . . . to stand up and say . . . that they are wiser than Madison and Jefferson and Hamilton, and that we should trust elected politicians in Congress to determine what you the citizens can say and what you can’t.

In this cause, Cruz deserves the support of every rights-respecting American.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UVpXCaeh98

Related:

• Citizens United and the Battle for Free Speech in America
• Steve Simpson on Continuing Threats to Corporate Free Speech

About Ari Armstrong

Ari Armstrong blogs at AriArmstrong.com, and he has written for publications including the Denver Post and Complete Colorado. He is the author of Values of Harry Potter: Lessons for Muggles, a book exploring the heroic fight for life-promoting values in the Potter novels.

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