I think this sort of thing is an outrage and a gross abuse of government...all for The Children too... If there is any justice to be had, Mr. Page ought to win this case.To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
- Thomas Jefferson
Question: What do you call it when someone takes your money, uses it to disseminate views with which you totally disagree – and then refuses to allow you even to respond to the distortion and defamation?
Answer: If you are the government, you call it “Free Speech.”
Welcome to Nineteen Eighty-Four. As Syme said to Winston Smith, “It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words."
But maybe, just maybe, if Richmond ’s 4th Circuit Court comes down on the side of the average citizen on March 20, that “beautiful thing” might be turned on its head. And those who pay for public discourse might actually be allowed to engage in it.
Here’s the scoop – taken from a news release issued by the Parents in Charge Foundation:
The March 20th case, Page v. Lexington 1 … involves a South Carolina School District ’s refusal to allow plaintiff Randy Page the right to counter the District’s barrage of anti-school choice views in a variety of public forums. A victory for Page would have ramifications for government communications nationwide.
The case stems from a South Carolina State Legislature bill which would have created a school choice tax credit program. The School District used its communications system to oppose the legislation. Upon discovering these messages, Page sought equal access to the District’s informational distribution system, which includes the District’s newsletter. He was denied access, however, by the District’s Director of School/Community Relations on the grounds that his views were in favor of school choice.
The case has already been adjudicated, as it were, in a lower court, which found the school district’s gag order entirely acceptable – even while conceding that Page had been openly discriminated against solely for his dissenting opinion. The court ruled that the district was protected under something called “government speech doctrine,” which in Nineteen Eighty-Four “newspeak” essentially means: “We talk, you shut up.”
Now, the intrepid Mr. Page, with the help of Parents in Charge (clearly an alien concept to the government and its schools) is taking his case – and the taxpayers’ cause -- to a higher court. Says Mr. Page:
“The education establishment does not want to give equal time to its political opponents despite the fact those opponents are taxpayers who paid for that forum in the first place. Victory in this pending litigation will create a precedent for effectively limiting the ability of school districts across the country to engage in political activism without at least providing the same opportunity for political opponents to present opposing views and information.”
In one of Winston Smith’s final diary entries, he writes, “Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four. If that is granted all else will follow.”
On March 20, in Richmond ’s 4th Circuit Court, we’ll all find out whether for Randy Page and tens of millions of other Americans, “Freedom is the freedom to say.” Period. If it is, all else that follows could be the right to “proclaim liberty throughout the land.” And that would be a “beautiful thing.”
SOURCE: Email from getliberty.org
