Guest AuthorHere’s my take on the Duck Dynasty controversy. I just do not care.
We used to have the right as Americans to say and think as we please, and live with the repercussions of those statements. However, here’s the difference that often gets lost in the yelling over the First Amendment. It protects us from the government, not from individuals.
The Duck Dynasty guy has a right to say what he wants. The A&E channel has the right to make a business decision based upon those comments. That idea of two entities working together, or not, voluntarily, was at the heart of America. Was.
Why do I now use the past tense?
Obamacare. President Obama felt we “must” have it, felt OK to lie about it, and to force Americans to participate in a program they have shown little interest in.
Unlike Duck Dynasty, we don’t have the option to change the channel. The President was free to lie to force a program down our throats.
America used to be an ideal of freedom — we could rise or fall on our own merit, and our basic obligation to each other was not to harm one another. If you are different from me, I could ignore you or engage with you, all at our own discretion. No longer do we have that choice.
Our freedom of speech has been curtailed. Period.
The IRS has been used to stifle dissent. At the moment it’s focused primarily on the conservative right, but just like domestic spying, you are on medical marijuana if you think that’s where it stops.
What’s shocking is that “liberals” who were so vocal under Bush about tyranny could now care less about ACTUAL tyranny.
Tyranny. A strong word. Merriam Webster defines it as “a government in which all power belongs to one person”. The President is now changing the law at his whim. If he can override Congress (the 2010 Democratic Congress that passed the law, not the current one), then we have a situation called tyranny. When more than 50 percent of our pay is taken away before we get it, we are living in a state of tyranny.
There’s a part of the President’s oath about “faithfully” executing his oath of office, and ALL Americans should be deeply unsettled that this President has decided on what the law is. Or isn’t.
So here’s my statement on the culture wars — all I wanted for Christmas, New Year’s and the other 363 days of the year is to be left alone to succeed on my own merit. Or fail. That option has been taken away from ALL Americans, and we are left arguing about whether a reality TV show should be cancelled because of the comments of one of the participants.
There is a problem in this country, and it starts with people placing a higher priority on the whims of Obama than on the laws of the nation.
Until more Americans decide that an out of control administration is more threatening that a crusty old reality TV star’s comments, we will continue a more and more rapid descent into tyranny.
