Waiting on the FEC Blog Ruling

The Washington Times Conservative and liberal bloggers both worry their freedom of speech is threatened by proposed campaign-finance rules that seek to regulate online political speech. The Federal Election Commission is expected tomorrow to outline rules that could limit political Web logs and e-mail solicitations and would be similar to campaign-finance laws that apply to more traditional advocacy groups, such as the AFL-CIO and the National Rifle Association. The rules could limit the amount of campaign money bloggers would be allowed to raise and the amount federal campaigns would be allowed to spend on Internet advertising. Last week, the House was close to voting on the Online Freedom of Speech Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican. The bill is designed to allow political blogs, e-mails and other types of individual online communication to continue operating free from FEC regulations. I believe blogs should remain as is, unregulated. Once government intervention begins it has a tough time stopping. This blog is an expression of my free speech and any form of government regulation is is a voilation of my constitutional rights. Hopefully the FEC will do the right thing today and stay away from blogs.