Congress Shall Make No Law . . .Unless It Makes One Anyhow

According to a June 28, 2007, report by CNSNews.com,"Amid a new push by Democrats in Congress to regulate talk radio―a medium dominated by conservatives―a Republican House member [Mike Pence, R-Ind.] has introduced a measure aimed at undercutting those plans. . . . If Democratic proponents get their way, the Fairness Doctrine's requirements would be codified in law and be stronger than a regulation by the FCC. Pence's proposal, which he is calling the Broadcaster Freedom Act, would not only block the return of the regulation, but legally prohibit the FCC or any future president from reinstating it."

Reports such as this one, which are scarcely uncommon, call to mind the following sequence of events: (1) the American people ratified a national constitution that stipulates, in part,"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech"; (2) each member of Congress, upon taking office, swears"to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution"; and (3) Congress makes―or, at least, as in the present case, considers making―a law abridging the freedom of speech."

Perhaps the members of Congress, when they raise their right hands to take the oath of office, keep their left hands behind their backs with their fingers crossed?