Fixing the Stolen Valor Act

The Stolen Valor Act was found to be unconstitutional because  it suppressed a mere personal expression.  In my opinion the First Amendment protects political speech, not unethical speech, so the Stolen Valor Act was ok with me. But anyway:

I read today that South Carolina state representative Chip Limehouse, from Charleston, introduced legislation in his state that would fine politicians who lie about their military records while campaigning in South Carolina. The first offense would cost them $10,000 and the fines would increase for each subsequent offense.

I think this is a good proposal. Politicians who lie about their service are essentially defrauding the public using false advertising to elect a candidate that may not have been elected otherwise. 

The proposal isn't perfect: politicians could still exaggerate their significance or accomplishments. However, I think it is a good first step. 

The next step should be to extend that proposal to include appointments as well.  Politicians will not be able to say, "well I was appointed not elected so I didn't mislead anyone" because their false statements may have mislead the officials who appointed them. So any person holding public office in the state is liable to pay the fine if they are found to have lied about their military service. 

I think this should be adopted and generalized as a federal law to punish lies about federal service of any kind, and that states should individually enact their own similar laws to punish lies about state and municipal service of any kind. 

With this fix, individuals not in public office who lie about their military service for whatever personal benefit can continue to do so as long as they don't run for or are appointed to a public office. At that time they would have to come clean or they would be liable under the fixed law to pay the fine if they are discovered. So free speech would be protected and the people would be protected.