HoltesThoughts: Restoring the First Amendment means restoring a Free Press

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Restoring the First Amendment means restoring a Free Press

Restoring Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

We need to restore a Free Press!

It seems that when the constitution prohibited the Congress and Federal Government from establishing a Religion or infringing on Freedom of the Press, speech, or assembly, they neglected to prohibit private corporate governments from doing so. Thus the courts have been letting businesses usurp those rights, while denying them to employees and stakeholders. Corrupt courts have been letting them do this since the Santa Clara Decision by privileging Corporate "personhood" over the personhood of the chattel persons working for them. Unconstitutional Government policies in the name of "free[booting] enterprise" have led to the disappearance of local newspapers, local news coverage and the consolidation of local radio, Cable and TV under concentrated ownership. This has led to a press that is controlled in much of the country, especially in rural areas and small towns.

To fix this we need to re-establish a Free Press as envisioned by Benjamin Franklin and the authors of the Constitution. A Free press is part of democracy. A controlled press is part of oppression.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group

Nothing illustrates this more than how Fox News and now Sinclair Broadcast Group, have been turning their news franchises into Right Wing Propaganda Organs. John Olivar talks about Sinclair Broadcasting in this segment:

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc&t=669s

Sinclair Broadcasting & Fox news are able to do this because the laws are seriously skewed and they are able to get away with telling their newsrooms what to do.

Further Reading on sinclair: http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-fcc-paved-way-giant-local-fox-news/

Stopping Establishment of Religion

The Four Freedoms are basic rights:

Corporations are not people. They are artificial persons from the POV of the law, but they are really governing entities. The government privileges people to create governing entities to manage property. These government entities are increasingly usurping government functions, property and rights and infringing on natural persons rights. In recent court decisions and legislation they've been stripping individuals of freedom of speech, religion and giving it to corporate entities are doing something unconstitutional. This is a reason why we need a Second Bill of Rights and to reaffirm FDR's 4 Freedoms.

More on Implementing a Second Bill of Rights:: http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2017/07/implementing-second-bill-of-rights.html; http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2015/12/four-freedoms-and-six-basic-rights.html

Protecting Freedom of Religion

The Immigration Ban on Muslims, represents people who see nothing wrong with infringing freedom of Religion. This was one of the protections that FDR wanted to strengthen.

Freedom of Speech!

We simply need to put honest and decent folks on SCOTUS and in the legislature, to protect this right. And we need a movement and a Second Bill of Right to enforce honest and decent officers.

Re-establishing a Free Press

Monopolies, and Oligopolies, by their existence, infringe on the rights to free speech and oppress the persons who form the press. Once again the Courts treat governing entities as "persons" and let them order the speech of their employees beyond what is needed for clarity, good reporting and professionalism. We need to treat the Press as a Utility, and reporters and investigators as privileged to do their work professionally and without encumbrance. The Press needs to be taken out of the hands of greedy and ambitious oligarchs. Otherwise it will continue to enable tyrannical & oppressive government. The current System is unconstitutional and the courts are too corrupt and inadequate to remedy this. We need to privilege the press the way Benjamin Franklin did when the Post Office subsidized printing presses and news.

Protecting Free Speech and Free Access to the Press

In this day a "free press" includes broadcast media and internet. We need internet Freedom. We need a means of funding artists, reporters and writers fairly. We don't need to make these rent sources for unproductive property-lords.

Assembly

And all these rights need to be local rights. People should have these basic rights at their work places and neighborhoods, not merely them in theory at County, State and Federal levels. Direct Democracy is only possible locally. Representative government is impossible unless individuals have a say in local government and a fair choice of representatives to general government.

Petition Government

In this day of databases and social media, people should have a right to raise issues, make suggestions and seek feedback from representatives. And we should have systems available to track those issues and monitor whether they are acted on. This should be a function of the "press", which in the meantime is all of us as amateurs.

Second Bill of Rights

Sources, Definitions and Further Readings

Progress and Poverty Book I, Chapter 2 The Meaning of the Terms: http://www.econlib.org/library/YPDBooks/George/grgPP3.html#Book%20I,%20Chapter%202; http://origin.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/fdrs-second-bill-of-rights; http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/7/1617937/-The-Second-Bill-of-Rights; https://www.thenation.com/article/seventy-years-let-us-renew-fdrs-struggle-economic-bill-rights/; http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/07/remembering-franklin-delano-roosevelt-and-the-second-bill-of-rights/

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