My Own Ranting and Raving

I continue to see laws made (and later declared unconstitutional) limiting the right of someone’s speech.  Many of these laws attempt to regulate (and eventually eliminate) the speech of a certain congregation in Topeka, Kansas as they picket various funerals and other venues across the nation.

Make no mistake.  I’ve seen these people picket on the street.  I’ve heard what they have to say.  I am appalled by what they say.  I am stunned by the hate of their speech.  And I am embarrassed to say that I’m from the same state as they.  But I do not wish to limit their right of free speech just so I won’t have to deal with them any more.  And the simple reason I don’t is that when their speech is limited, so is mine.  And so is yours.

Whether this group from Topeka, the Ku Klux Klan, the Communist Party, the Aryan Nations, or Hindus, Mormons, or Christians, all speech by all people is limited when anyone’s speech is limited.

You may have the freedom to say what you want now…but what happens if government becomes hostile to Christianity, to religion in general, or to any specific group or association, political, religious, or otherwise, that you may have a relationship with?  Law is established in part upon precedent.  If there is precedent in silencing someone whose speech is considered hateful and tormenting (the Topeka folks), that precedent can and will be used to silence you and me.

No, we can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater unless there really is a fire.  No, we can’t slander someone.  No, we can’t lie under oath.  There are practical and well-established limits that are beneficial to society as a whole.  But a bunch of knot heads standing on a street corner holding signs and shouting slogans having to do with sexual orientation, funerals, and what they believe to be the fate of the nation bother me not a bit.  They can picket the funeral of anyone I am related to or love, or mine for that matter, and I won’t care at all.

Why do we let them control us?  Why do we allow this bunch of idiots to make decisions for us regarding how we are going to feel and what we are going to think?  Why do we give them permission to upset us, make us angry, or fight back?  You do know, don’t you, that is exactly what they want you to do.  They want you to react.  They want you to be upset.  They want to have control over your emotions and thoughts.  Aren’t you better than that?  Aren’t you more mature than that?

Many people don’t agree with me.  Many people didn’t agree with me when I said that flag-burning and desecration would (and should) be upheld as protected speech.  That doesn’t matter.  You have the right, under the first amendment, to your speech.  I have the right to mine.  It’s people who fight and die for freedom (much gratitude to all who serve) who continually work to establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.  And like this comment or not, it’s people like those folks from Topeka, Kansas who have made certain that right is for ALL of us…not just those of us who are currently politically correct.