Foremost among those was the right of free speech. Rep. Nunes has benefited from it for his entire life, as have I. Very likely if you’re reading this you have, too. And if you haven’t, it’s probably because you were born or lived somewhere that did not respect and value this fundamental liberty and now choose to live in the most freedom-loving country in the world, where your ability to criticize your government in public even in harsh terms is ironclad.
The plain fact is, Rep. Nunes’ lawsuit constitutes a grave threat to the long recognized and respected civil liberties belonging to each of us, and indeed our system of governance writ large. Madison also said, “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” He was right, as was British historian Lord Acton when he said, “Power tends to corrupt.”
This is why Americans should scrutinize our public officials’ political committee expenditures — including those of leadership PACs — voting records, public statements, financial interests, behavior and conduct. It’s what the Framers wanted, it is what the First Amendment guarantees a right to do, and it is sound policy to boot. True freedom and good, constitutional government are impossible to maintain unless each of us is able to question, research and review what our public officials do, based on publicly available information and interactions with them and their staff, and then engage in unimpeded, public debate about what we find. They work for us, not the other way round.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member