“Disclose” Act, A Very Dangerous Piece of Legislation

The U.S. Senate is now considering a very anti-free speech act designed to muzzle the voices of corporations in American politics. Included in these corporations are issue-oriented organizations such as National Right To Life, the American Family Association, and the Family Research Council. These organizations are the ones that many of us depend upon to inform us of legislation and of legislators who would limit our civil rights to free speech and other basic human rights.

This legislation would limit our rights to intervene in the legislative process; and it would specifically avoid limiting the rights of left-wing organizations, such as labor unions to do the same sort of things. This kind of unbalanced limitation of rights was out-lawed by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC on 21 January 2010.

This so-called “Disclose Act” was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 219-206 on 6/24/10; and it is now in the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. The bill is designated S. 3295. If you would like to read more about this bill, I would refer you to National Right To Life’s letter to House representatives concerning its predecessor, H.R. 5175. You can view their opinion on http://tinyurl.com/29pf663. You should e-mail your senator or call him/her as soon as possible about this very dangerous bill—it would greatly limit our First Amendment rights to free political speech in America.