Freedom of Speech OK Unless Talking Politics

Ok, so the guy that created the Hillary Clinton 1984 video that’s on YouTube revealed himeself.  Since he works for a consulting service that the Obama campaign uses, he was promptly fired.  What bothers me most about this is the fact that people are acting like this was the correct thing to do.  The article even speculates whether the Obama campaign did enough to distance itself from this video.

We are a country that’s proud of our freedom of speech.  YouTube is probably one of the best examples of this expression. Anyone with a video camera and an internet connection can send a message to the world.  You can say anything you like, and if everything lines up just right, your video could be seen by millions of people.  That’s power in the hands of individuals. This is what America is supposed to be all about.

But if you post something about a political candidate, people start questioning.

  • Who made this?
  • Who paid for it?
  • How much did it cost?
  • Can they say that?
  • Is this fair?
My question is, why do we restrict the very speech that the first ammendment was written to protect?  It's not just the culture and the media.  There are laws.  Remember campain finance reform?  529 organizations?  Why should you have to register as a 529 to talk publicly about a political campaign?  Maybe it's just me, but this whole thing seems hypocritical and, quite frankly, stupid.
Ted C. Howard @ted