> [Original Message] > From: List Manager <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: St. Paul Issues Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 7/15/04 1:30:04 AM > Subject: [StPaul] Free Speech Discussion > > Just a note to remind folks that the "FREE SPEECH" discussion is > getting a little too abstract for this forum.
Precisely. At this point I hope that the discussion has served to demonstrate in a practical way that there IS a real difference between a commercial sales pitch and politically-oriented free speech (even when including a solicitation) and that any reasonable mind can recognize that difference without reducing it to the Supreme Court's abstractions. Constitutional litigation also generates a kind wind power, but if you're looking for something that will actually turn your windmill. . . you'll have to keep looking. In a larger sense, I think this says a lot about why we have a proverbial "litigious society" when proponents so readily abandon common sense for the sake of ideologically prevailing in political discussion. Are we really going to step on the right of citizens in a democracy to conduct politics of any stripe in public just because it intrudes on my right to shop in an atmosphere of consumeristic euphoria because, if I close my good eye, I can convince myself there's no difference between a political advocate, who may or may not accept campaign donations, and a vendor required to rent stall space? I don't think so. - Guy Western the West Side _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
