The First Amendment Is a Two Edged Sword

All of this hoopla in Charlottesville, VA has got me thinking.

Basically it all started with this favorite radio/podcast host I have. This gentleman and his wife were driving up in Maine when a pickup truck drove past them with Confederate flags flying from the rear of their truck. This host, and his wife were offended by the flying of the Confederate flags, and pulled into a store parking lot to confront the folks in the truck. The radio/podcast host and his wife told the couple in the truck that they were offended by their flying of the Confederate flag which they saw as being racist in nature. They were summarily flipped off by the couple in the truck, and a short verbal confrontation occurred, fortunately no was hurt or worse.

As I listened to this tale, I was thinking to myself "Well the Confederate flag is a symbol, and symbols mean different things to different people. Their anger may be justified, but maybe my radio host and his wife were a little out of line."

But then I thought some more, "What if they were flying a Nazi flag instead of a Confederate flag from the back of their pickup truck?" This flag has definite racial meanings to it. Should I, or anyone else confront them to say that they are offended? Should there be a LAW that states that the Nazi flag not be flown by anyone in public?

This censorship of offensive material is a very slippery slope. The First Amendment to the Constitution states that no laws shall be passed to restrict the right of free speech of American citizens. Citizens also have a right to disagree with what others say. There is a right to express yourself, whether it be a Nazi Flag, Confederate Flag, or whether you have a Christmas tree. The Constitution does not give you the right to bash, pummel, or kill anyone who you disagree with, or who you feel offended by.

If you give the government, or anyone the power to censor Nazi Flags, Confederate Flags, statues of Robert E. Lee, etc. you are opening a Pandora's box. This is opening a door to anything, and everything being censored that someone, (or the government, who the Constitution is really protecting us from) finds offensive.

We all need to grow a thicker skin. Dumb asses fly Confederate flags in Maine, or wear Nazi gear for one reason; to piss people off. These dumb asses get off on doing that. Don't play into their game and add more anger which they feed off of. The best way to handle dumb asses is simply to ignore them

Allow dumb asses to be dumb asses as long as they are not violent dumb asses. The Constitution allows everyone who wants to be a dumb ass to be one.

An Open Letter To the N.S.A.

This post was originally published January 2008, it is republished for your enjoyment.

Hi guys, how are you doing? It’s me Mike. I’m sure you know me quite well by now. I am well and doing fine. In fact I have been partying like its 1999 for the last couple of days. My friends and I have been celebrating the “we survived Bush” extended holiday. Whoopee! Excuse me; I am still a little delirious, and still a little inebriated.

The purpose of this letter is to address the accusations of your employee, Thomas Tamm. It seems that Tom is feeling a little guilty about all the snooping around you folks did on private American citizens, on W’s orders. The first in line to be snooped, were the journalists. I hope you enjoyed some of my anti Bush, anti N.S.A. posts. I am sure Fear Mongers, was a big hit with you guys.

Now that we have a new administration in office, one that isn’t paranoid of all American citizens that make less than 20 million a year; I figure we should let bygones, be bygones, and not be so suspicious of each other. I don’t know Barrack Obama personally, but I’m sure that he would want you to leave me and my little blog alone. In fact I bet he would want you guys to leave ALL of us tax paying, patriotic, bloggers alone. I know this, because I just heard him re-take the Presidential Oath of Office, in which he swore to defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The last time I checked, the First Amendment, the right to free speech, is still part of that Constitution.

Anyway, now that we don’t have George W. Bush around to stomp on the Constitution anymore, I’m sure that I will not have so many critical comments to make about the abuse of Presidential power. I am confident that both of our lives will be happier, and less confrontational.

Let’s drink a toast to that (hic).