HR-1, the so-called “For the People Act,” passed the House in 2019 and was debated in the Senate, but failed to pass. Pegged as a “voting rights bill” by its Democratic Party sponsors, it was re-introduced in the Congress in 2021, but still failed to pass.
I’m really distressed that the focus is, from what I can see, almost exclusively on the voter law portion of the bill, while the really dangerous elements of the bill are slipping in almost without notice. I sent this letter to the New Jersey Star-Ledger in 2019, which was never published:
To the Editor,
HR-1 [S-1 in the Senate version] is hyped as a “Voting Rights Act.” But beneath that slogan are provisions that threaten more fundamental rights to freedom of speech, association, conscience, privacy, and petition. Respectively, HR-1 severely restricts independent political spending, the means of free speech, by groups of individuals like corporations, unions, and Super Pacs, violating free speech and association rights; provides for “public” funding of elections, violating freedom of conscience by forcing the taxpayer to fund politicians’ campaigns without their consent and/or even if the politician’s policies violate the taxpayers conscientious beliefs; force disclosure of contributions to political action organizations, which violates the donors’ privacy rights by outlawing the confidentiality of donors; sharply increases requirements on lobbying, making it much harder for private citizens to peaceably assemble to petition the government.
Taken together, HR-1 is a broad-based rollback of the First Amendment. It violates the very inalienable rights which gives substance, meaning, and effectiveness to elections, and substantially reduces the ability of voters to hold their elected political leaders accountable. The “Voting Rights Act”—officially labeled, with a straight face, the “For the People Act”—is an insult to actual people who take their actual right to vote seriously.
Sincerely,
Michael A. LaFerrara
Though unpublished, the letter is still relevant because the Democrats are ready to push it through the first chance they get.
For more on HR-1, see these posts:
HR-1 is An Assault on Free Speech, Property Rights, Freedom of Conscience, and Privacy
Democracy Doesn’t ‘Win’ When Free Speech is Suppressed, Voting Rights or No Voting Rights.
QUORA: “Is the For the People Act of 2021 (HR. 1) constitutional or not?
Statistical Disparities Don’t Prove Discrimination in Voter ID Laws
Related Reading:
Why Free Speech and Spending on Speech are Inextricably Linked
The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech--by Kimberley Strassel
Making Private Donations Anonymously is a Right
Citizens United and the Battle for Free Speech, by Steve Simpson
‘Dark Money’ is Free Speech. Protect It
Campaign Finance—Voluntary Contributions vs. Public Funding: Which is ‘Dirty?’
Voting Rights are Not the ‘Most Fundamental Right’—or Even a Fundamental Right
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