The Federalist Papers are a series of articles published in newspapers, and essays, authored by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton (pre-Broadway musical days for you robed readers), debating the parameters of the soon to be US Constitution.
On Tuesday in Miami, Jonathan Guerra Blanco, was sentenced to 16 years In Federal Court in a plea deal before Judge Scola for producing and promoting ISIS propaganda and promotional materials.
There is something that bothers us about that.
There is no defense of ISIS. THIS IS NO DEFENSE OF ISIS (so spare us your emails and diatribes against us in the comments). But it seems to us that the better method is to not prosecute odious speech and propaganda because only the antiseptic light of day will kill the vile lies promoted by ISIS and supporters of POTUS 45.
We are a country founded by an asymmetric military made up of peasants and farmers fighting the strongest army on earth at that time (England).
One could say our founders were a rag-tag band of terrorists fighting a colonial power.
Israel, in the days before its founding, had bands of asymmetric fighters attacking the colonial English in Palestine. One of the leaders of what was clearly a terrorist organization- Irgun - was Menachem Begin, who later became Prime Minister and signed a peace treaty with Egypt. Begin and the Irgun studied other underground military organizations like the Irish underground's fight against the British. In order to forestall cries of antisemitism, we think Begin, Israel, the Irgun, and the Hagenah did exactly what they had the right to do, and needed to do, to bring Israel into existence.
Our point is again not to defend ISIS. Their ideas and actions are reprehensible. But to question the methods of criminalizing the dissemination of ISIS propaganda.
Because as we like to say, if they can stop a farmer from selling the wheat he grows (Wickard v. Fillburn), if they can stop people disseminating speech because they do not like the content -certain government bureaucrats find it "dangerous"- then what can't they do?
The Chinese control their citizens' access to the internet. The Chinese government monitors chat rooms and internet-related discussion of ideas. Promote the wrong idea- freedom for Hong Kong for example- and you are prosecuted and sentenced to prison (there are nary any Mr. Markus's or Rumpoles in China).
What makes what the US government did to Blanco any different than what China does to people who protest Hong Kong OTHER than the specific content of the ideas?
And if you go down that road, then you agree there should be government content moderators who decide what speech is and is not a crime. Good luck with that.
Ok, now go call Rumpole a "jew hating, ISIS loving ass&ole".