Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”: This quote was uttered by Voltaire, a Frenchman who lived in the 1700s. Do you agree with this quote? I mean, really, really agree with it? This quote rings clearly in my head after the actions taken by Newport Beach City Council last night, as they voted to take official government action to shame another councilmember for their speech.
Here’s the short story: Councilman Peotter made comments stating that his religious beliefs are against gay marriage. Well, I vehemently disagree with him on his opinion on this subject. I cannot begin to over-state how much I disagree with him. And that’s fine. I can do that. So can you. Heck, you can even disagree with me. All of the individual members of council can disagree with him (or me!), if they would like– as individuals.
But the moment they use their official government power to cast a vote to take any action on another individuals speech– whether that vote is intended to publicly shame, fine, imprison, or even to kill them– it doesn’t matter: It’s a first-amendment violation. The government is flatly forbidden in defining what speech is appropriate or inappropriate. That is the entire essence of the First Amendment: it protects controversial speech from ANY FORM of government action… yet last night, Newport Beach City Council threw all of that out ‘the window and voted in a response to Peotter’s free speech.
So, you may ask– who put this forth to a vote? Well, Diane Dixon and Keith Curry were the ones who helped to craft the wording. The two others who joined them on the vote to violate the First Amendment? Tony Petros and Ed Selich.
Now, a politician being embarrassing? Not exactly worthy of national news. But a council who officially casts votes with the intent of violating the 1st amendment? That is something quite serious… and to me, it’s frankly terrifying.
What do you think? Should the government limit speech only to what it views as acceptable, or should we all have freedom of speech, allowing us to proclaim our views– however controversial or incorrect they may be?
My apologies if this post got a little “deep”, usually we deal only with surface-level issues in City Government, but this one went straight to the core and violated the fundamentals of our constitution. And I’m not okay with that.
