Using the Best, Bringing Out the Worst
Freedom of speech is one of the most widely appreciated and critically lauded rights in our country, yet it is also one of the least understood. Under the protection of this original amendment to the Constitution of the United States, each person has the inherent right to express themselves through the use of words. This is one of the core elements to our democracy, if not the very heart of it. Yet once again we are beginning to see how that right can be mistreated, misunderstood and misdirected against the very ideals it was created for.
On March 23, 2010 President Barack Obama signed into law a comprehensive package of health care reforms under the title of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This is being held as the most widely sweeping package of reforms to the health care system since the enactment of Medicare. As with any major change to our country, there was disagreement and dissent in how these changes should be applied, if at all. That’s a good thing–dissent and disagreement should be protected and even encouraged because that is how checks and balances work and it is our protection against any one party or idea running roughshod over the entire country. A multi-party and multi-idea system is inherently necessary for Democracy to work at all.
Unfortunately, as with any system requiring human beings to take part, there will always be people who will abuse that system. While hiding under the guise of protected argument in opposition to the passage of health care reforms, Senators, Congress people and ordinary citizens have escalated their rhetoric beyond reasonable limits. Referring to health care reform as “global Armageddon”, claiming we should vote out those in favor in November, “if we have elections” or even calling for the assassination of politicians’ children if they voted yes on the bill; those are only a few of the responses from the opposition. While they might indeed reside technically under the protection of the first amendment, these types of exaggerations and exhortations are against the core ideal of free speech.
Our right to free speech was meant to protect our ability to state our opinion and express ourselves in face of totalitarian oppression and intimidation, yet in these cases it is being used directly for the intimidation and oppression of those with differing views. Worse, the politicians, pundits and performers who choose to wallow in this level of discourse ignore the effect it has on those people listening to their vitriol. They scoff at those who warn them and they deny that the mass population would ever take things too far, but they consciously and knowingly neglect the knowledge that terrible acts aren’t only orchestrated by a large group of people:
- The recent flight of a small plane into an IRS office building was achieved and orchestrated by one man.
- The Oklahoma City bombing was achieved and orchestrated by two men.
- The mail bombing campaign issued from 1978 – 1995 was achieved and orchestrated by one man.
The very night the Senate version of health care was passed an operation of window smashing was enacted against various Democratic county offices and those offices of politicians who voted for the bill. Credit has been taken by a far-right conservative blogger who revels in each and every report of vandalism and damage, whether or not it was specifically in his name. While a few hundred dollars in damage per affected office is not a huge thing, I do wonder exactly why this particular act was chosen to express their disappointment. I suppose letters to their representatives seemed too light or too ineffective, or maybe it just wasn’t flashy enough, or maybe they were trying to draw a subliminal connection to the ‘Night of Broken Glass’ where the Nazis and anti-Jewish coalition smashed all the windows of Jewish shop owners, signaling only the beginning of the oncoming Holocaust. Whether or not this was in their heads while they scurried through the dark tossing bricks through windows, the message is clear. Words are no longer an option for them, action and violence is now their chosen recourse.
The opposition to the new health care package needs to quickly decry and despise the violence inherent in the rally cries and speeches from their very own supporters. If they do not, they will find the uncomfortable color of innocent blood on their hands and a saddened nation of people wondering how and why they let it get that far.
Tags: anti-semitism, barack obama, bills, congress, congressman, congresswoman, democrats, editorial, harry reid, health care, house of representatives, irs attack, law, nancy pelosi, night of broken glass, oklahoma city bombing, opinion, patient protection and affordable care act, Politics, reform, republicans, senate, tom coburn, unabomber, violence
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