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I'm not claiming that laws in one country aren't legitimate if they don't exist in another country, but I might not have made my point clearly.
If you believe in your mind that killing someone is wrong and, subsequently, the death penalty is a punishment that is too extreme or morally wrong, then
a $1 dollar fine for exercising political speech (an inalieable, deity given right) is too extreme a punishment.
I think it's the logical conclusion of the argument that a punishment's extremity is the basis for it's legitimacy.
Especially in this context since people can (and have) argue that freedom of speech is more sacrosanct than life.
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"The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann
"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman
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