Reacting to Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby‘s tweet above, the Maine House speaker and majority leader (Guess which party…) demanded that she take it down. Libby refused, so the body’s Democrats introduced a censure resolution. Their contrived reason: her post included photos and the first name of a minor, the male athlete who was allowed to compete in female-only sports. Both the photo and student’s name were publicly available and had been published by media sources. Obviously, this was an effort to silence an effort by an elected official to have the public understand “what’s going on here,” and, as we all know from the motto of an Axis-supporting newspaper of note, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
Rep. Libby’s social media post is unquestionably protected speech under the First Amendment, which squarely protects her words, content and actions. She refused to apologize for her protected speech, so the House speaker decreed she would be barred from speaking on the floor and from voting on any legislation until she relented and repudiated her tweet.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression just filed an amicus brief arguing to a district court that it should require Maine’s legislature to reverse the punishment. FIRE explained (in an email to me and others), “If political majorities can impose draconian sanctions on political minorities, then no viewpoint is safe. Members of the majority party could have responded in many ways: Criticize her for her post, make posts of their own, or just ignore it. But they can’t strip her of her ability to vote or speak on the floor. By punishing her, they veered into blatantly unconstitutional viewpoint-based retaliation…Rep. Libby’s unconstitutional punishment — and the threat it highlights — are an affront to our liberty, no matter our politics.”
Well, “Duh.” If it weren’t for the fact that virtually every one of my Facebook friends is a freaked-out progressive immune from logic, critical thought and common sense in the wake of losing the 2024 election, I would shake this story in their smug faces like my Jack Russell used to do when he successfully stole our TV’s remote control. This is what their party has deteriorated into, a Machiavellian cult that feel justified in using totalitarian methods. Be proud, Democrats!
Thoughts and Queries:
- FIRE is having a good year, and a good week on Ethics Alarms!
- Where is the ACLU?
- How could Maine Democrats think that they could get away with this?
- When did famously conservative, independent and rational Maine voters become so alienated from their core values that they let this ethically-rotting party take over their government?
- Why are Democrats so determined to die on the metaphorical hill of XY competitors in XX sports?
- When will feminists and women’s rights groups start lining up with their own interests even though their favorite party is opposing them?
Ethics Alarms 
Where is the ACLU?
Rhetorical question, I presume. They don’t do stuff like this anymore. Which is why FIRE is so important.
How could Maine Democrats think that they could get away with this?
Because they HAVE gotten away with it, at least so far. Worth noting that all but one of the state’s daily newspapers are owned by the same NFP, which is partially funded by various Soros-linked entities.
When did famously conservative, independent and rational Maine voters become so alienated from their core values that they let this ethically-rotting party take over their government?
The tipping point was when Paul LePage won the governorship in 2011. He won with a 38% plurality. This enraged progs in Maine so thoroughly that they rammed through Ranked Choice Voting, conveniently overlooking the fact that John Baldacci, a two-term Democratic governor, won his last stay in the Blaine House with the same numbers. But Maine’s reputation as conservative, independent and rational reached its use-by date quite a while ago.
Maine’s First District, which starts in the southwest corner of the state and goes not very far north, extending to the midcoast area around Rockland, incorporates Portland and its ‘burbs. It has long been a liberal place. The Second District is roughly 8 times larger geographically, but there’s whole lot of beautiful nothing in it.It’s also important to consider that Maine is demographically old place, where many people are reliant on social security, Medicare and Medicaid. And although the paper industry is moribund, paper was once huge, and thus unions and union support are pretty significant. Maine has been gradually swinging left for a very long time.
Why are Democrats so determined to die on the metaphorical hill of XY competitors in XX sports?
What else they got?
When will feminists and women’s rights groups start lining up with their own interests even though their favorite party is opposing them?
Presumably, once they stop drinking the kool-aid. Or until their anti-psychotics kick in, whichever comes first.
Heh. I bet myself a million bucks that Arthur in Maine would be the first to comment on this post. Thanks for raising my vulnerable self-esteem.
On the ACLU: It still claims “to protect everyone’s rights” and “free speech.” If it would move to address something this blatant, how does it keep so many members who joined when it really did care about the First Amendment? I just checked its website. I’m going to make it the Unethical Website of the Month.
Advocacy organizations are relevant when they are single-minded in their pursuit of a certain ethical or legal purpose, regardless of particular political alliances and preferences. That is why FIRE is so effective.
ACLU has become irrelevant as an organization since they have become a mouthpiece of the Democrat party. Same is true of all those civil rights organizations during the Martin Luther King era, such as SLPC.
“Members of the majority party could have responded in many ways: Criticize her for her post, make posts of their own, or just ignore it.”
“Members of the majority party could have responded in many ways: Criticize her for her post, make posts of their own, just ignore it, firebomb a Tesla, or kidnap her children.”