Selective Tolerance for First Amendment Rights

Carol Platt Liebau | September 13, 2010 9:59 AM

Ronald Reagan once said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."

The newest iteration of that truth is illustrated by Michael Barone's column detailing the

Obama administration's threats to insurance companies that are raising rates in the wake of Obamacare -- and have the temerity to say so. It highlights the fact that a government big enough to run health care is big enough to punish any insurer that reveals the shortcomings of its plan.

This is despite strong evidence that the Obama administration itself is playing games with numbers.

It's sad and alarming that an administration headed by a man who defends the provocative use of First Amendment rights by someone like Imam Rauf is so willing -- eager, even -- to stifle the voices of dissent from American business. Some points of view are just too dangerous to be tolerated, apparently -- that is, those of American business.