- Joined
- Mar 11, 2006
- Messages
- 96,114
- Reaction score
- 33,461
- Location
- SE Virginia
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Spending money for a internet connection on or paying for a paper=speech?
Spending money is an economic transaction. The act of communicating a message is speaking. You have the right to communicate a message. Buying something is not communicating a message, and regardless of what method you choose to use to communicate it, you're still communicating it. Even if certain methods are unavailable to you (like they are to every last one of us), other methods are available. Spending money is a wholly different thing than speaking.
In a nutshell, NO!
You two seem to want to play word games. Well let's take a look at the Amendment in question.
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.
Boy that covers a lot, did you notices the word "press"? We all know that no press will run without money, and in these times freedom of speech or the press usually requires money, so the answer is yes, SO TAKING THINGS IN THE CONTEXT PROBABLY UNDERSTOOD BY THE OTHER MEMBERS HERE.............YOU ARE BOTH WRONG. Money is part of the ability to express political ideas or opinion, which is what we're talking about.
Going down to the 7-11 and buying a Slurpee is not the spending we're talking about Pasch, and I think you know it. We're not talking about a financial transaction, we're talking about the ability or access to the ability to express our opinions.