Section 8 of Kentucky's Constitution reads as follows:
"Printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the General Assembly or any branch of government, and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. Every person may freely and fully speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty."
Nothing there suggests any kind of authorization for the government to restrict any kind of political speech. In fact, the guarantee of freedom to speak, write and print on any subject couldn't be more clear.
So how do our politicians justify limiting our ability to criticize them?
Ask anyone who voted for SB 8 in 2008. That would probably be a lot like a Kentucky Senate version of Jay Walking.
Getting this right is pretty important. The Kentucky Constitution explicitly guarantees absolute freedom of speech and we have elected officials trying to create additional legal hurdles for citizens wishing to criticize them.
Call your state Senator and ask if he or she can explain why state government should be allowed to override our state constitution. Please forward this post to other Kentuckians so we can get this right.
