The National Citizen’s Coalition, a pro-free market, pro-individual liberty organization, goes to court in February to oppose the federal “gag law.” Its fight is for freedom of speech and freedom of expression during election campaigns. Its fight is also our fight.
The law limits how much money an organization or individual can spend to put out issue ads or other political activities during an election campaign. Not only will the NCC not be able to post its humorous ads on politicians and their pensions, but pro-life and pro-family groups will be limited in the number of signs, brochures or other information they can distribute. Pro-life and pro-family groups, such as Campaign Life Coalition, distribute the information they collect from questionnaires to their supporters. This is simply information to help voters make informed decisions on election day. But this activity may be curtailed if the gag law is allowed to stand.
The effect of the law is two-fold. It limits what organizations and individuals say during election campaigns. Because of this, it also amplifies the role of the media and allows politicians a free ride by making it difficult for anyone outside the media to raise issues. In short, it is undemocratic.
Neither the media nor the political establishment wants abortion and same-sex marriage seriously examined during the election campaign. To do so with the former would put the lie to former prime minister Jean Chretien’s claim that we have “social peace” on abortion. To have a debate on the latter would expose a giant chasm in political opinion that the ruling and judicial elite would rather ignore.
In a democracy, if people want or need an issue addressed, they have a right to hear from candidates seeking office the answers to questions crucial or important to them. The gag law makes that much more difficult. By doing so, it strengthens the power of media personnel, who will be the sole disseminators of information (and askers of questions). It will also strengthen the power of incumbents by allowing them off the hook on difficult questions.
