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I've seen a lot of people saying that the vote to "officially" disapprove of the MoveOn.org ad has no effect on our free speech. Those people are wrong.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, including our US Senators. However because they ARE elected officials, their "opinions" carry a lot of weight, and never more so than when they're using the Senatorial soapbox as an avenue to convey them. Now it's true that voting to express their disapproval of an ad doesn't technically infringe upon free speech. MoveOn.org and other organizations are still free to say what they wish. But the question then becomes--WILL they? Will anyone else?
When elected officials start using their Senate votes to approve or disapprove of certain kinds of free speech and expression, it has a chilling effect on speech overall. If a politician expresses disapproval of something during a press conference or an interview, that's fine--it's easy to ascertain that they're just expressing their own opinion. But when they put it up for a vote in the Senate, it becomes something much more ominous. When something is officially condemned by the Senate during a vote, it changes from "I personally disapprove of this" to "The United States Senate officially disapproves of this". It's not difficult to see that the magnitude of significance changes drastically between those two statements.
Our Senate just officially disapproved of a certain type of speech and expression; namely "personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces."
The implications of this are huge. People who try to dismiss this as "Oh, they're just expressing their opinions" are doing a grave disservice to both their fellow citizens (many of whom are young, impressionable, and don't yet have a sense of what free speech is really about) and to the noble notion of free expression in general.
We as citizens have a duty and an obligation to fulfill OUR roles as checks and balances in our government. One of those roles is to do exactly what so many of us are doing here right now--taking a public stance against the chilling of free speech. When our Senators stumble, it's our job to call them on it. I'd feel a lot more secure in my rights if I saw more agreement here on this issue, and less infighting and divisiveness.
When free speech loses, NOBODY wins.
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