Of "Truth Squads" and fear of free speech: "Heed Their Rising Voices"

Senator Obama and his campaign are not the first people in the last fifty years of American history who have tried to use the law to quash political intimidation, especially when faced with the prospect of political ads that they fear. Indeed, one of the most important Supreme Court cases that emerged from the civil rights struggle of the twentieth century was brought by plaintiffs who did not like what what was said about them in a political ad, and was brought for the express purpose of chilling future political ads and press coverage of what they were doing. Those plaintiffs, southern law enforcement officials wanted to shut down attention being paid to the sometimes violent clashes between law enforcement and those fighting for civil rights. To draw attention to the problem, a group of civil rights activists took out an ad, headlined "Heed Their Rising Voices," in the New York Times. The ad described various events and tactics that southern law enforcement in Alabama had directed at civil rights protesters. The ad itself contained a few, relatively minor factual errors. But its real significance for those who wanted to continue to use brutal methods to suppress those fighting for civil rights was that it raised awareness across the country, and particularly the northern states, about what was going in Alabama, then one of the hotbeds of racism and resistance. The plaintiffs feared publicity, because they feared how people would react to publicity.  Because the defendants won and won on First Amendment grounds, "Heed Their Rising Voices" not only transformed defamation law in this country but  allowed the national press not just to run paid ads but to cover the civil rights movement in the South without fear. That coverage brought the events and the issues to nationwide attention and played a role in building a nationwide consensus that various laws and customs, particularly those from the Jim Crow era, were not only legally unacceptable, but socially and politically repugnant.

So, political ads can change the world. Apparently Senator Obama appreciates this. Hence the "truth squads" who, like the plaintiffs in Times v. Sullivan, will use law enforcement to shut down speech. (For discussion of the truth squads announced in Missouri look here and here.)

What Senator Obama seems to forget is the very high value our constitution places on political speech, even false political speech.

I confess a particular interest in the creation of these truth squads. With Marc Rubin, I founded The Denver Group, a political organization dedicated to running political ads, first during the primary season and now into the general election, under the banner Democrats For Principle Before Party. You can see ads we have created, raised money to run, and have run here and here. We are currently preparing television commercials to be aired in various states. With sufficient funds, we will most certainly run the commercials in every state where a "truth squad" is in operation. Because as Democrats and democrats we believe in full freedom of political speech - even if our Party's presidential candidate does not.

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Comments

[DYB]

So far I've really only seen this discussed on blogs, though notably (and not surprisingly) not the pro-Obama ones. Things like this and Camp Obama really make me wonder just how deep this rabbit hole goes! I'm not actually equating Obama to Hitler, but I can now see how Hitler could have come to power ("democratically elected"). None of it actually makes sense, of course, but we're watching something similar happen before our very eyes. It's bizarre!

[Mirlo]

Intimidations of this kind are fascist tools to try to bend the voter's's will. We need people who will NOT be intimidated to uncover such tactics. Such people put their personal freedom, very often their professional reputation, their financial ressources and much more on the line. Let's give support to those people: DFPBP and FDR.

[NetherLands]

Personally the whole bashing of Republicans and 'old-style' Democrats alike, the camps, the intimidation of free speech,the votig-fraud etc. reminds me of what happened in Eastern Europe after WWII (easy read: Michael Burleigh, Sacred Causes), the rise of Castro in Cuba (after the overthrow of Batista he denied being a Communist but was called out by a.o. cartoonist Antonio Prohias of Spy vs Spy fame, who had to flee Cuba as a result of demonstrators/Castroist mobs baying for his blood), and especially Mao's Cultural Revolution (even the age-groupings are the same: youngsters and old hard-line radicals vs those who still remembered pre-Mao times).

I'm Dutch and the more I learn about Obama (search started because of his eagerness to attack allied Pakistan), the more he scares the crap out of me, especially with the House already in the bag of Pelosi et al.

[ainnj]

Fox news just had a big story on it. Why am I not surprised at these tactics?

[Heidi]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

[Senex, Ireland]

The American Fuehrer is certainly calling the
shots these days. I am convinced that the youth camps for training and threats to Americans who do
not fall into line are based on the success of the Nazi party 1933/39.
No one seems to understand Obama interpret his
motives and how he is achieving his goals.
As a young boy my home here in Ireland was
bombed and destroyed by the Luftwaffe and aware of
power driven Hitler with his Nuremburg rallies,
with their thousands, and copied by Obama .These
were so real and frightening but ignored by so
many, until it was too late.
Senator Obama's arrogance exceeds that of Hitler and Americans should think carefully
before they cast their vote. There was a cult in
Germany and almost a nation fell under it with
disastrous results for the world and for Germany
itself. Wake up America.........

Good fortune.....Senex, Ireland.