1.1 Expression and Communication

1.1 Expression and Communication

We support full freedom of expression and oppose government censorship, regulation or control of communications media and technology. We favor the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others.
We oppose government actions which either aid or attack any religion.

At first glance this might seem like the first amendment all over again, but it's not.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Clearly I support this. But the party platform goes farther. It also encompases control of media and technology. The US Constitution is brilliant in its foresight and flexibility, to be sure. But the language has drifted as has technology, and this platform brings it up to date seemlessly.

It also meshes perfectly with the previous plank, where, once again, the key is that you're free to do whatever you desire so long as you do not violate the rights of others. This is something I would like to focus on a bit.

Why is it that so many people feel the need to control others when the actions of those others do not adversely affect themselves? This question has never been satisfactorally answered for me. I have had answers offered, but none seem to fit the bill. It could be, and I suppose likely is, that there is no one answer, and perhaps each of the answers offered covers a portion of the guilty such that all answers together cover most of the perpitrators.

No matter how you slice it, it comes down to power. One person telling another what they must or cannot do. That is the central theme of the Libertarian Platform as best I understand it, the proper use of power.

Our country has gotten off the track and started to misuse power in some very dangerous ways. Power is neither good nor evil, but those wielding it are. The government has accumulated far too much power, and has begun to wield it against her own citizens. At this writing we still, nominally at least, own the government and can turn it around. There is no place in a civilized society for the misapplication of force, either by the government, or citizens.

In this we the people act as a counterbalance to the government. We deligate our power to the government, and control how those powers may be used. We must not forget that it is being used in our name and that we are therefore responsible for it because if we do divorce ourselves form this responsibility then something else will fill the void and once lost the cost of regaining such control may be horrific indeed. The government keeps us safe from our fellow citizens (when it's working properly) and we the people keep ourselves safe from the government. It is a balance, and at the moment we are tipping dangerously out of balance in favor of the government.

You need look no farther than the renewed interest in the "fairness doctrine" which is nothing more than censorship. It is the negation of the free will of media outlets to publish whatever they choose with it being replaced by what the government mandates they must publish. As an owner of the government I cannot, in clear conscience, tell a media outlet what it must publish for to do so would be to enforce my will upon them by the government proxy.

As a Libertarian I will stand against this at all costs.