From: Jim Burns [karmaflage1@msn.com]
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 4:08 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: paid speech vs. free speech


The First Amendment’s primary purpose is to insure that all citizens of the United States shall have access to the information they need to truly understand the issues which bear upon their common life.  That is why no idea may be kept from them.  Commercial speech is not protected by the First Amendment, but rather by the Fifth Amendment and its “freedom of contract” clause.  If commercial speech were given the same weight under the First Amendment as political speech, then the First Amendment would lose its integrity as commercial interest used it to justify invasive pandering rather than attempting to create an informed citizenry and a truer democracy.  In the age of information, all thoughts are education.  This is why the Supreme Court has recognized that all speech is not the same and thus is afforded different levels of First Amendment protection.  The traditional hierarchy of protected speech as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments are as follows: First and foremost political expression, followed by personal and aesthetic expression, then moral and religious expression.  These are all considered “pure” speech and are thus given the greatest protection..  In the category of “impure” speech falls commercial speech, obscenity, libelous speech and fighting words.

            The traditional hierarchy of protected free speech is because some expressions are “no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.”.  The state’s police powers should protect parents and their children from the public aggression of panderers.  For the FDA not to understand this is to show how poor our education system has been for decades.  Please protect the right of Americans to go about their day unmolested by the crass pandering of those who can’t control their offensiveness in trying to make a buck.  Make the right decision about commercial speech, it's not "free speech" it's "paid speech" do you recognize the difference.

 

                                                                                    Sincerely, 

                                                                                                India Weeks

780 dickman ave.

monterey, ca. 93940

831-372-2981