By
William L. Garvin
“Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.” First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Last
week the American left clearly showed that they are willing to allow
transgender men into women’s bathrooms thereby subjecting women and girls to
potential risk. If you think this is hypothetical
or nonsensical speculation, the University of Toronto has already experienced
abuse. The left also now portrays the corporate support for their position as “brave”
and “heroic.” Weren’t these same
companies greedy, evil, exploitive one-percenters just a week ago? All of a sudden, the enemy of my enemy is my
friend!
This
hypocrisy is typical of far too many on the left. As has been frequently noted, they will
tolerate anything but dissent. Kirsten
Powers, a liberal Democrat, has an entire chapter (“Intolerance 201: Free
Speech for Me but not for Thee”) in her book THE SILENCING: How the Left is
Killing Free Speech devoted to this subject. Professors and small groups of leftist
university students have successfully shut down and eliminated conservative
speakers and conservative ideas from many campuses. Powers quotes Michael Bloomberg as remarking
that “…conservative faculty members are
at risk of becoming an endangered species.” The concept of “I may disagree with what you have to say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is as passé in
academia as “ask not what your country
can do for you but what you can do for your country.”
This
censorship, intolerance and intellectual schizophrenia can be seen in full force
at Donald Trump’s campaign events. Like
him or loathe him, there is no doubt Trump is a modern political phenomenon and
draws huge crowds that want to hear what he has to say. In Chicago and elsewhere, he also draws large
numbers of protestors. True to the form
of the Occupy “movement”, Black Lives Matter, and other anarchic gatherings,
they are not peacefully assembling but deliberately stifling the rights of others
to participate in our political process, to avail themselves of freedom of
their political speech and to petition for redress of grievances against the
current administration. Many of the
anti-Trump forces complained that his rhetoric “incites violence.” However, where are the Trump storm troopers
goose stepping all over the Bernie, Hillary, and Ted rallies? It doesn’t happen. The violence and confrontations come from
protestors and outside agitators at the Trump rallies. Trump’s supporters are threatened, cursed,
given the finger and have their signs grabbed and ripped apart by rabid
forces. Protestors shout that “their
voices are being heard” but seem incredibly oblivious to the fact that they are
silencing others and denying them their God-given and Constitutional rights.
Trump
is also accused of being “vulgar” in his speech. Trump is Emily Post in comparison to the
language being used by the protestors.
By the way, the epithets scribbled on your signs in Spanish makes them no
less obscene. What is actually obscene
is the inability of protestors to articulate exactly what and why is the
motivation for their antics. Kierkegaard
noted that “People hardly ever make use
of the freedom they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand
freedom of speech as a compensation.” This
should probably be combined with Plato’s observation that “An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least
wit are the greatest babblers.”
Our
national debt is over $19 trillion and well on its way to twenty despite record
tax revenues; Russia is buzzing our ships with fighter planes; Iran still
chants “death to America-death to Israel”; North Korea continues testing long
range missiles; terrorist activity is increasing around the globe; the Middle
East is a disaster; we have record numbers of people on food stamps and out of
the work force; and our immigration policies and border security is
ineffective. It’s time for problem
solving not giveaways. It’s time for
free and open discussion of ideas. It’s
time for character not personality. It’s
time for competence not charisma. It’s
time to carefully evaluate all the alternatives before it’s too late! Stand up or bow down!
“America will never be destroyed
from the outside. If we falter and lose
our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Abraham Lincoln
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