I think that enough of the guys on this forum, August, Haplo, Aramike and tater to name a few, have laid out the case that vitriol is not new and it is certainly not worse than it was in the past. Jefferson was accused of favoring gang rapes, cannibalism and forced incest during campaign season. I am guitly as anyone in being biased against the political through simply being burnt out on it, and I think that this is the key.
Jefferson didn't have 24-hour news channels, internet blogs and twitter. The 18th century voter wasn't bombarded by knee-jerk pundits and news anchors trying to make a name of themselves through 'gotcha' questions. It was the media that fed this vitriol in the name of ratings, and now that they created the monster they suddenly want to disown it. So no, restricting political speech accomplishes nothing, as the problem is still there. The media will continue it's frenzied search for the juiciest soundbytes, the biggest slip-up, the most inflamatory speech.
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