Speak! (but don’t listen)

So I catch this Connie Shultz on C-SPAN this morning talking about Dick Cheney.

She says that if he’s a real patriot that he should shut up.

I got pissed, got up and poured a cup of coffee and come back to hear her telling one of the Demonrat callers what they should do to counter the opinions on the right.

She tells them to write their congressmen, to right letters to the editor and to start blogs.

Wow.

We should simply shut our mouths so that they can be heard whining and moaning some more.

Yeah.

Just like a Demonrat to stand up for our Constitution, but only when it is convenient to their causes.

Well, I’m here to tell ya, I ain’t shuttin up.

I hope Cheney doesn’t shut up either.

Hell, I even encourage every one of you – let YOUR voices ring out.

Don’t be stifled by these bastards on the left.

They want to control everything from the boardroom to the bathroom (reference BO’s CEO “implants” at the helms of banks and auto manufacturers, or old Cousin Al Gore’s six-gallon toilet that won’t even flush one of my little pooches contributions to the environment).

(For “more gore on Gore” see 1, 2, 3, 4).

These people are arrogant scum who think that they (and their lousey opinions) are all that matters.

It is high time to let them know different.

At every opportunity, let them know what you think.

You do still matter, in spite of their self-righteous opinion.

What’s wrong, baby?

Well, of the last few weeks I have sounded a bit of a seditionist, and I’m beginning to feel a little sorry about that. Its definition is “actions or speech intended or serving to create rebellion against a government” (sedition, that is).

Now, I want to make it clear that I do love my country. I grew up during the 60’s and 70’s and watched cities burned and plundered as underground groups like the Weathermen, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the Red Brigade and others waged cowardly war against legitimate world governments.

You want to know what I think is wrong in these, our modern times? I think it is wrong to incite people to riot; wrong to preach hatred, and yes, Alice, I think it is wrong to rail against your President when from this man’s perspective, he is trying his damndest to do what is right for his country.

The left in our country seem to be forever turning a blind eye to terrorist states, to illegality (our illegal house guests), as well as hypocrisy (you remember all the arguments about the Lewinsky thing don’t you? Contrast that to Governor Spitzer).

The argument was made that for Bill Clinton to get involved in something similar on a desk in the oval office no less, had zero impact on the performance of Presidential duties (I suppose it is all in the definition of duty).

Could not the same argument be applied to Spitzer?

What you hear is, Spitzer was a bulldog against this sort of crime and is a hypocrite for breaking the laws he so doggedly tried to enforce. Personally, I think that both acts are criminal. I think it is always criminal for leaders who set expectations for us (like not practicing sexual behaviors in the workplace) to preach one thing, and do another.

Back to preaching.

What Reverend Wright preaches is hatred. The speech is absolutely no different from what white supremacists preach.

While what I write here may be suggestive (tongue in cheek, like moving all liberals to the Mexican border to form a hippie fence), I think people understand that it is designed to pick an issue, like a splinter, from under the surface – not to force uprising, but rather, to get people thinking.

So, enough of the apologies.

I know that our Nation is founded on free and open discourse with the only limitation being speech that incites people to hurt one another (riotous incitement – yelling “fire” in a theater).

It is irresponsible.

Timothy McVeigh’s act in Oklahoma City could loosely be construed as a statement (as you know, if you’ve read my columns, I don’t believe that “acts” are speech, any more that I believe a poor, innocent donkey should carry the weight of the demonrats).

It was equally wrong to do what the Weathermen practiced when they bombed our Capitol building, what Timothy McVeigh did in Oklahoma City, or when the 9/11 terrorists attacked America. Same acts, no matter the motives.

They all result in people getting hurt.

So, is there any right left any more?

I think so.

I think it is right to stand up against “free” speech of the kind that produces violence, and war.

I think it is right to go after our enemies, both foreign and domestic, and hound them to the very gates of hell.

I think it is right to counter hate-filled speech with logic and reason, and good, common sense.

We have a country in which people too often want to forget unpleasant things.

We will point out when other countries practice atrocities (Darfur, Tibet, Sierra Leone), which is a good thing, but we also should not forget that we have some problems of our own, although not as pervasive and extreme, but still.

It is a balancing act, really – to avoid speech that incites riot, yet not to ignore when we have issues that need to be discussed. Reasonable people (that standard of the reasonable man assumes that these men are capable of reasoning), but reasonable people should not riot when presented with the simple facts.

Of course, it really does not hold completely true.

So, don’t you think it is reasonable for our country’s leaders to be for our country, rather than in an under-handed manner seeking relations with our enemies (1, 2)?

You know, instead of inciting a nation or a people to riot, how ’bout we incite them to stand up and be counted when it comes to what is right in this world.

Personally, I like this alternative much, much better.

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