freedom of speech is not free

In the ‘Bill of Rights’ of the US constitution, we have the freedom of speech and assembly. Yet, we cannot yell ‘bomb’ in a crowded staduim, we cannot lie under oath to protect someone, we cannot tell our employers competitors of customers or trade secrets, we cannot gather in groups to force someone to have sex against one’s will, we cannot gather naked outside an elementary school to protest school uniforms, ‘Non-Disclosure Agreements’ are legal, et cetera. Granted, we can make and disseminate porn all we want, write and sing songs advocating a violence, create ‘documentaries’ that are less about the truth than about advocating a point that should not be advocated, preach that people are unfit to live ‘because God says so,’ et cetera. Yet, contractural agreements requiring our silence on certain issues, which seem to go against the First Amendment, still are legal. Yet, none were proposed for the windiest group of all, those seeking election to a Federal office. That is the reason we have the campaigns we have, long, vociferous, expensive.

My proposal to correct this is simple a contractural obligation for Federal Office seekers. First, no person wishing to see Federal public office shall indicateor express that intent more than 120 days prior to Federal Election day, currently first Tuesday following first Monday in November. Secondly, no money shall be used in a Federal Election campaign that was not directly earned by the candidate that was raised more than 120 days prior to Federal Election day. Thirdly, the maximum amount of money that may be used for conducting such campaign shall be no more than ten time the anual salary of the office sought, except for Presidential campaigns, which may spend upto one hundred times the President’s anual salary. No candidate that cannot meet these contractural obligations of the office they seek may stand for Federal Election of that office.

This proposal eliminates much of the four long years of pain by doing what most other countries do, define an election campaign season of fixed length. This is not a limit on freedom of speech, but a simple contractural obligation not to give away the ‘trade secret’ of our Republic, that anyone, no matter how stupid or wrong, can get elected. Maybe then, the American citizenry can feel like a part of the process again.

I do not see any other proposals out there.