Posted on November 30, 2012

Dem Rep. Hank Johnson: Amend Constitution to Restrict Freedom of Speech

Eric Scheiner, CNS News, November 29, 2012

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) says, “corporations control the patterns of thinking” in the United States and that the Bill of Rights to the Constitution should be amended so that the government is given the power to restrict freedom of speech.

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“These corporations, along with the people they support, other millionaires who they’re putting into office, are stealing your government. They’re stealing the government and the U.S. Supreme Court was a big enabler with the Citizens United case,” Johnson said at the Annesbrooks HOA candidate Forum in Georgia in October.

“They control the patterns of thinking,” said Johnson. “They control the media. They control the messages that you get. So, you are being taught to hate your government — don’t want government, but keep your hands off of my Medicare by the way. I mean, we are all confused people and we’re poking fingers at each other saying, well you’re black, you’re Hispanic, immigration, homosexuals. You know, we’re lost on the social issues, abortion, contraception.

“And these folks,” Johnson said, “are setting up a scenario where they’re privatizing every aspect of our lives as we know it. So, wake up! Wake up! Let’s look at what’s happening. We need a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to control the so-called free speech rights of corporations.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission is that corporations have a right to freedom of speech, including the right to speak about politicians and federal officeholders during an election year.