View Single Post
Old 01-20-2004, 04:33 AM   #19 (permalink)
onetime2
Junkie
 
Location: NJ
Quote:
Originally posted by smooth
onetime2,

You read me correctly, I was distinguishing between individuals and government entities.

People do have the right to be heard by the government--that's the point of having free speech. Free speech without a commensurate right to be heard by our government (who's sole responsibility is to respond to the needs and demands of its population) would be a pretty silly right to possess.

Individuals, on the other hand, do not have an obligation to address the demands and needs of other citizens--they possess their own rights to conduct their own affairs wihout molestation.

This is why I draw a distinction between the two. I see the Bill of Rights as a contract between the people and a new form of government they were creating--not a document governing relations between citizens. That should be left to the local government agencies, which are closer to their constituents and better able to represent individual needs and demands.

BTW, I feel the protestors have a right to be heard by the President. He has an obligation to hear their appeal.
Thanks for clarifying. Do you think this is the way it is now, or the way it "should" be? If it's the latter, that might be an interesting topic for it's own thread. If it's the former, I have to say I disagree.

Free speech currently applies beyond just voicing oposition (or support) for government. Protests occur against/for corporations, private groups, and private individuals all the time. So long as it doesn't cross the line into libel, you can say what you want about anyone/anything in the US right now.

I don't feel protesters have a "right to be heard" by the President. It doesn't spell that out in the Constitution and they certainly have other methods of voicing their opinions to the President beyond pickets and protests (still there's no guarantee that they'll be heard). They can write letters, get petitions together, take out ads in newspapers & magazines, and, of course, not vote for him when he's up for re-election.
__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.
onetime2 is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360