..."Long story short: Because Corsi spent money, no matter how little (his website cost all of $40), the Ohio Election Commission said Corsi should have incorporated his group and registered with the state as a political action committee — hiring a lawyer to help with the “very complicated” process. As far as Ohio is concerned a political action committee can consist of as few as two people. Besides, Corsi engaged in “express advocacy” about politicians. The horror.
Two courts have ruled in the commission’s favor. The Center for Competitive Politics, which is based in Arlington, has asked the Supreme Court to hear Corsi’s case. Let’s hope the justices agree to do so, because the Corsi case epitomizes a growing problem: the censoring of free speech through back-door regulation.
That was precisely the problem at issue in the scandal over the IRS’ treatment of tea-party groups: Organizations with certain political views were singled out for special scrutiny — their applications sidetracked, their activities probed, their members’ reading habits and religious practices investigated — at the behest of government officials such as Sens. Chuck Schumer and Al Franken. (A few progressive groups got caught up in the sweep. But like dolphins caught in tuna nets, they were not the intended target.)
Don’t let the IRS scandal lead you to believe shutting up political opponents is something only Democrats do, "...
"You Shouldn’t Need a License to Speak
By ILYA SHAPIRO SHARE
Washington, D.C. has served as the backdrop to some of the most important speeches in American history—from Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream,” to Franklin Roosevelt’s stirring call for a declaration of war after Pearl Harbor, to almost every president’s inaugural address (some less memorable than others). The city is also home to monuments and statutes celebrating the memory of men and women who spent their lives fighting for freedom, especially the freedom of speech.
But if you want to show this history off to tourists, you’d better have a license. District law requires tour guides to pass a history test on 14 subjects, covering material from no less than eight different publications, before they can go into business—all for the purpose of “protecting” tourists from misinformation."...
