Robert Ford, a Senator in the South Carolina State Assembly recently introduced Bill S.56. Which would "Amend the code of laws of South Carolina, 1976, by adding section 16-15-370 so as to make it unlawful to communicate profanity in a public forum or place of public accommodation; by adding section 16-15-430 so as to create the offense of disseminating profanity to a minor and provide a penalty for the offense; to amend section 16-15-305, relating to disseminating obscenity, so as to specify both oral and written publications; and to amend section 16-15-375,relating to definitions for purposes of morality and decency offenses against minors, so as to include the offense of disseminating profanity to a minor."

Essentially it would ban anyone one from swearing publicly, selling parental advisory cd's to anyone under the age of 18 with or without parental consent. And even ban movies like Good Will Hunting, or anything seemingly rated higher than G from the theaters, as they are a place of public accommodations. Furthermore ban comics, musicians, or anyone else providing live entertainment to the public from using foul language.

While this does not affect us here in Colorado, it just shows you that our rights are under constant attack, and we have to watch our State legislators from sweeping us back to the puritan age under the banner of family values. Family values are good, but restricting our federally guaranteed freedoms is not. This reminds me of a Franklin quote, when asked outside the Constitution convention of 1787, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?", Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."

Our rights are our rights and they are ours to protect, no one will do so for us --in fact the executive branch in the last 8 years has done a lot to curb our rights, especially privacy. While hopefully this bill, currently in the Judiciary Committee will not see the light of day, which does not mean that it won’t or that such bills will never be introduced. I would hope that New Era Colorado will help the citizens of Colorado keep a watchful eye over the state legislature here to help destroy any such bill introduced here.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty