| Peel your palm off of your face. Yes, Sen. Paul, a man sworn to uphold the Constitution, just like every other elected official, seems to have an abject failure to understand the meaning, intent and workings of the 1st Amendment.
Since good ol' Sen "Jethro" Paul seems to have forgotten with the 1st Amendment says let me remind all of you:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Where the junior (so very, very junior) Senator form Kentucky gets into hot water is the part that says "right of the people to peaceably assemble". It does not matter what is said when they assemble, as long as the assembly is peaceful it is constitutional and it would be a violation of the Constitution to have any law that would deport or imprison people who attend such a gathering.
It does not matter if it is Billy Graham or Malcolm X or Britney Spears, if you are going to a gathering and the speaker does not say something to the affect of "Let's burn down City Hall, right now!" it is inside the protections of the free speech and the peaceful assembly grant of the 1st Amendment.
You might think that a supposedly Libertarian like Paul would be zealous in defending all rights, especially the ones that limit the ability of the government to prohibit actions of citizens. Instead this Jethro of a Senator wants to expand the ability of the government to arrest and imprison those who just attend speeches that are inflammatory.
This is not just dumb on a constitutional level either. It is a political hot potato on the Right. There are more than a few rightwing groups that preach the violent overthrow of the United States. The KKK has been known to do it, so have the so-called Sovereign Citizens groups. Militias pop up all the time with this as their main goal (though they never get close to it) and then there are the Dominationist groups that want to make the United States a theocracy and they are not shy about the idea of violence to achieve it either.
If Sen. Paul had his way all these groups would be in big trouble and so would anyone attending one of their rallies or speeches. These are groups that are part of his base. I know that is strong accusation, but if you want some back up, take a look at the efforts of Stromfront, a White Supremacist group to raise money for Paul's election campaign. You can find it at this link.
One has to wonder how far Sen. Paul really wants to take this? After all is there a lot of difference between taking violent racists money and listening to a speech advocating overthrowing the Obama Administration? Should we be putting a sitting United States Senator on the No Fly List or warming up a jail cell for him?
Of course Sen. Paul does not think this should apply to him. In fact it is really just a smoke screen for Islamaphobia. He is clearly thinking only of dark skinned men who happen to be Muslims for this special exception to the Constitution, but again being a Jethro he does not get that the Constitution applies to everyone.
Conclusive diagnosis of Bodineism is a difficult thing. There is no blood test or even MRI imaging. However when folks like Jon Chait and Alex Pareenee say things like "Rand Paul, Americas Dumbest Senator" and "He's not only an ideological fanatic, he's not even a terribly bright one." We can be relatively sure that Sen. Paul is a Bodineism suffer.
It is amazing to me that people even listen to the rube at all. Yes he is one of the more powerful people in the nation, since he is one of only 100 senators. Still when someone is so wrong so often on so many issues we have to say "Okay, Jethro, why don't you take a dip in the cement pond?"
I don't know about you, but if I were a Libertarian I'd be hanging my head in shame that this is the most high profile member of your movement. Someone that thinks the government giving doctors money to treat people is enslavement, someone who thinks that a pretty crappy writer from the 1950's has the last word on a problem that was not even recognized when she wrote and someone who does not understand the basic rights that Libertarians are supposed to be all about.
Having Sen. Paul as a standard bearer for your cause is about the same as having the original Jethro Bodine as your pilot; it'll be a ride with a lot of attention paid to it, but in the end you are likely to wind up in a crater.
The floor is yours. |
