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Originally Posted by Siobhan OFlynn  Are there laws against inciting riots and encouraging public unrest? I would LOVE to see Sarah Palin arrested for making incendiary speeches and promoting violence against a presidential candidate. |
We have a thing called the 1st amendment. It especially applies to political speech, even unpopular political speech.
As a liberal, you should be defending this. The ACLU defended the KKK's right to march and speak in public.
About the riot stuff, in 1919 the constitutional test was established as a "clear and present danger". In 1969, this test was replaced with "imminent lawless action".
Unless Obama is actually present at these McCain rallies, there is no way that there could be imminent lawless action. The test requires that "the speech likely to cause violation of the law more quickly than an officer of the law reasonably can be summoned."
So no, you can't silence people you disagree with. It's disappointing that you even want to.