Another Defeat For The Constitution

By Semperpapa

Once again, political correctness has scored another victory against the US Constitution and against the American people.
In Grand Junction, Colorado, a local businessman had paid for the erection of a billboard along highway I-70B, in which President Obama appear as a terrorist, a gangster, a Mexican bandito and an homosexual.
While the billboard might have been offensive to some, it was the expression and message of private citizen of the United States and therefore absolutely protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The problem arose when some of the people who were offended by the billboard started to express their opposition with phone threats made against the man and his family.
Blake Brueggeman, the businessman who commissioned the billboard, said that the he was fine with the harassing phone calls he received at his place of business, but when the threatening calls begun to be made to his wife, he decided to take down the sign.

Personally I do not fault Mr. Brueggeman for worrying about the safety of his family and the decision to renounce his freedom of speech (I would most likely do the same in his position), but I am very much concern about the message that this whole incident is sending to the Nation: if you disagree with someone’s message, just threaten his family and the hell with freedom of speech.

Now the man did the right thing in view of protecting his family, but what I find intrinsically disturbing are some of the comments made by people who were interviewed by the KKCO reporter who wrote this article.
One Cory Caldwell stated that the message of the billboard promoted hatred and racism and rhetorically asked “where do you draw the line?”
Another woman, Crystal Kitzman stated that if it offends someone, it should be taken down.
So, once again, we see that political correctness is the instrument used by our society to infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed right of American citizens and the people appear to be just fine with it.
If I could ask Mr. Caldwell few questions, I would start by inquiring on his opinion about the thousands of billboards and signs depicting former President Bush in much more irreverent ways. Was he as incensed by them? Did he think that the line should have been drawn there too?

The truth of the matter is that the methodology used in this instance is eerily similar to that which Islamic fundamentalist use when they perceive an insult against their religion, and the results appear to be just as successful, as the everyday population is so afraid of inciting the fury of militants that they are cowered into submission.

I find the expression “drawing the line” very interesting. It is an argument used by many who are either ignorant in regard to our First Amendment, or are set against it.
When it comes to the rights afforded to the American people by the Constitution, there is no line to draw, as long as the public safety is in jeopardy.
In the case of the Westboro Baptist Church and their favorite activity of showing vile protest at the funerals of Military killed in action, there is nothing I would like better than to see their ugly faces locked up in jail for their sub-human behavior. But where does it stop? Would it be acceptable to prevent someone to write anything against Obama in the name of incitement to violence?

Reality is that the Founding Fathers placed Freedom of Speech as the very first Amendment of the Constitution because they did not believe that really free people could trust the government to safeguard that freedom without bias.
Today may be a billboard, tomorrow may be a newspaper article or a news report.
And thanks to political correctness, the fear of offending someone’s sensitivity is, just as any cancerous disease, slowly and painfully killing our society.

An insignificant billboard on Colorado’s I-70B may be looked at as a no-news by the rest of America, but it is just one more small victory in the war of the Left against our country and people like Crystal Klitzman, regardless of her political convictions and affiliations, are the accomplices of the defeat of America.

Just my thoughts!