The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It is beautiful in its simplicity. Elegant speech, no superfluous words, and direct to the point. Protecting rights and freedoms.

I feel it necessary to remind everyone of that amendment, because the Democrats currently in power seem to have forgotten what it means:

The bill isn’t simply a spending disclosure reform; the Disclose Act also wouldbar”electioneering communications” by corporations that have government contracts worth more than $10 million, received TARP funds or are controlled by foreign entities. So it’s not simply about disclosure, it’s also about suppressing free speech.

You also would not know that while proponents frame the bill as a response to theU.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 Citizens United ruling, which lifted restrictions on independent political advertising by labor and corporations, the House version of the bill imposed restrictions on the above corporations – with no parallel restrictions on labor.

Another view from the U.S.Chamber of Commerce:

The administration declared Monday that the Disclose Act “takes great strides to hold corporations who participate in the Nation’s elections accountable to the American people. As this is a matter of urgent importance, the administration urges prompt passage of the Disclose Act.”

But Josten says the act would heavily restrict the rights of more than 100,000 associations nationwide to run ads expressing their political views.

Groups opposing the measure span the political continuum, including the ACLU, the Sierra Club, PIRG (the federation of state public interest research groups), the chamber and many others.

The chamber recently called the bill a “desperate attempt” by Democrats to grab a political advantage in the midterm elections.

And from Don Surber:

Apparently our government is run by people who do not understand what “no law” means.

Indeed.