WND EXCLUSIVE

RELIGIOUS BROADCASTERS BLAST HARRY REID SCHEME

Constitutional change 'threatens serious consequences for freedoms'

Bob Unruh

The National Religious Broadcasters, a group which speaks for millions of listeners, viewers and readers of Christian media, have a mission to “advance biblical truth; to promote media excellence; and to defend free speech.”

So when a Democratic Party strategy appeared in Congress that would take the First Amendment down a notch by allowing state or federal government to censor what’s said about elections, NRB officials could not be silent.

In a statement released Wednesday, leaders said the group said a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution pushed by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., S.J. Res. 19, “threatens serious consequences for all the freedoms found in the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment.”

“Amending the U.S. Constitution is a serious matter,” said Jerry A. Johnson, NRB president. “I am concerned that, in this pre-election political theater, many Senate Democrats have signed their names to a perilous proposal that could allow the government to elevate or suppress voices at will.”

In a previous letter, Johnson told leaders in the Senate the constitutional amendment includes a section reiterating the freedom of the press “but is silent on the other First Amendment liberties – namely, religion, speech, assembly, and petition.”

“In essence, this would establish the press as a super-class of speaker (without defining what the press is), but could well leave expression by the rest of Americans at the mercy of the federal government,” he said at the time.

Johnson wrote the amendment is “convoluted and has the potential to undermine the fundamental rights that have been the basis of our republic for centuries.”

He cited the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

He said the resolution would prepare “the way for the government to prefer one voice over another – or to suppress one voice under another.”

“In particular, I note that this constitutional amendment would uphold the freedom of the press, but does not make the same provision for the first freedom – religious freedom – as well as the freedom of speech, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government. In essence, this would establish the press as a super-class of speaker (without defining what the press is), but could well leave expression by the rest of Americans at the mercy of the federal government.”

He continued: “I would respectfully suggest that this political exercise could be starting a dangerous proceeding – one which may well ultimately call into question the basic First Amendment freedoms of all Americans. The text of this proposed constitutional amendment is unacceptable, and I urge you to reject any attempt to advance it.”

The change has been pushed hard by Reid, who repeatedly has used his Senate platform to attack conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch, according to The Hill.

But Reid has been unable to stop their participation in the American political system because of the Supreme Court decisions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. FEC. The decisions struck down limits on companies’ expenditures and aggregate limits on individual contributions.

Democrats, who are opposed to the candidates supported by the Kochs and others, tried legislation to overturn the Supreme Court decision but failed.

Their followup strategy is the constitutional amendment, which provides protections for the “press” but allows government interference with the speech of others.

Their amendment would “authorize Congress and the states to regulate and limit fundraising and spending on federal candidates.” And it “would also prohibit the Supreme Court from reversing any future campaign finance legislation passed by Congress,” the report said.

When the issue came before the Senate this week, reports said it took Reid less than 10 minutes to mention the Koch brothers.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, soon declared the repeated Democratic attacks on the Koch brothers “an embarrassment.”

In a Washington Post report, he said, “The majority leader has launched an unprecedented slander campaign against two private citizens.”

He said the proposed amendment was “the most radical proposal that has been considered by United States Senate in the time I have served.”

The amendment sponsor, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., responded, the Post said, by explaining: “Nothing in the amendment would permit the arrest of anyone for engaging in political speech.”

The report said he noted the amendment “seeks to restore the campaign finance rules that existed when ‘Saturday Night Live’ began in 1975, a year before a seminal Supreme Court decision equated money with speech.”

Cruz promptly jumped on the statement.

He said “Saturday Night Live” has a historic record of “tremendous political satire.”

“Who can forget Chevy Chase tripping and falling over just about everything. Who can forget portrayals … of George Herbert Walker Bush. … Who can forget in 2008, [the show's] wickedly funny characterization of the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin.”

He noted the amendment gives Congress the authority for any corporation “to prohibit it from engaging in political speech.”

And since SNL is broadcast by “a corporation,” an unappreciative Congress could shut down SNL’s shows, he said.

“That is extraordinary. It is breath taking and it is dangerous,” he said.

The National Association for Gun Rights raised similar concerns, arguing an anti-gun Congress could shut down the organization from exposing the anti-gun positions of candidates.

Bloomberg reported criticism of the plan was widespread outside of Democrat circles.

“Democrats who control the Senate say they’re more interested in repealing the free-speech protections the First Amendment guarantees to all Americans,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in the report. “Their goal is to shut down the voices of their critics at a moment when they fear the loss of their fragile Senate majority.”

Whether the amendment has a realistic chance remains uncertain. It would have to gain two-thirds support in the Senate, the same in the House and then be ratified by three-fourths of the states. It would give the Republicans an open door to accuse Democrats of trying to generate controversy leading up the November elections.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/religious-broadcasters-blast-democrat-scheme/#SqmIHuczWZcxBdfX.99

My comments: The godless Democrats will use ANY MEANS to advance their godlessness, including and amendment to the US Constitution. They want to SILENCE all opposition and especially Christians who stand for Christ and His Word, because that Word tells the godless Democrats that what they do is EVIL and the HATE that..