Fighting Words, MAGA Hats, and the First Amendment

             “Wearing MAGA hats provokes and insults people of color.”

“Aligning oneself openly with Trump’s movement sends an aggressive political message.”

“Anyone who wears a MAGA hat is racist.”

These and similar statements can be heard from the Left regularly; they have intensified in the wake of the attacks on the Covington boys.   

These and similar statements are a frightening trend that threatens one of the very cores of our Democracy – the First Amendment right to free speech.

The First Amendment protects speech, including symbolic speech.  The wearing of a MAGA hat or other politically identifying apparel (a campaign pin or T-shirt for example) are symbolic speech which is defined as a non-verbal communication that conveys a message or statement to those viewing it.  

While our free speech rights are not absolute, any restrictions must be as narrow as possible so as not to interfere any more than is absolutely necessary with the fundamental right of free expression.  The government can, in appropriate instances, put reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on speech.  “Fighting words,” words intended to incite an immediate breach of the peace, are not protected.  However, the government cannot restrict speech so as to force one to only speak or hold a particular opinion.  Even hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.

Freedom of speech goes hand in hand with freedom of thought, both of which are essential to democracy.  Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in part that “everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.” 

Yet, the Left, in their repeated attacks on the MAGA hat, come frighteningly close to attempts to deny free speech and the free thought behind it.  Their behavior, not only toward the Covington boys, but to many other wearers of MAGA apparel, has a chilling effect on others who might desire to make a similar symbolic political statement but fear the attacks that doing so would bring.  Laura Ingraham has suggested that this is a form of voter suppression.  I would agree. 

Further, I fear that the Left is on the verge of using their attacks of the symbolic MAGA speech as a way to restrict that speech as some sort of “fighting word” exception to the First Amendment freedoms.  That would be a slippery slope indeed, for to restrict an opposing political view simply because it is upsetting to those who do not hold that view would put us well on the way to a country in which any and all opposing speech and its underlying ideas could be banned.  Such a country is not a democracy but a dictatorship.

The Left seems to have little regard for the First Amendment and its protection of speech when that speech is something they disagree with or do not want to hear.  They seem to have no problem with shouting down, intimidating, silencing any thought or expression that is not their own.  This says volumes about their respect for democracy itself.  For it is the sharing of diverse ideas in a marketplace of open and free speech that is an absolute necessity for a democracy that is a government of, by, and for the people.  To care about democracy is to defend free speech, even when it says something that you find offensive. 

Only by sharing diverse ideas, by having tolerance for diverse views and openly presenting and discussing varying ways to address an issue can we grow and evolve as a country.  Symbolic speech has been a powerful movant at difficult times in our history; that speech is frequently political and almost always offensive to someone.  Yet, we need that speech if we are to continue to be the free country that stands as a beacon of free thought to the world.  If only the Left would remember that and defend rather than try to extinguish free and diverse speech along with the thought behind it.

Quietly Delete

This morning I read that Democrat Representative Omar had quietly deleted proven lies that she had spewed at the Covington boys even after the full facts from the full video became public. 

How often do we hear this?  After dragging someone, along with their family and others associated with them through the mud, after issuing any number of threats, after bullying and name calling, all designed to silence and destroy both the individual along with anyone else holding views similar to that individual, after all that, when it is proven that there was a jump to judgement without factual support, the attackers silently delete their vitriol.  No apology.  No remorse for the pain, suffering, emotional and sometimes physical harm caused, not concern for a life and reputation damaged and destroyed.  Just quietly delete and then move on to the next victim.

And what does this do for those who are not yet victims of the hate?  It silences them.  The Covington boys were wearing MAGA hats.  That was their crime in the eyes of the hateful Left, and for that the Left made sure they were punished.  How many parents will let their children wear MAGA hats to a rally next time (or even allow them to attend a rally).  The hat is a form of protected symbolic speech under our Constitution.  The intolerant Left would deny such speech; indeed, they would deny any speech that holds a view contrary to their own.  That is not the America laid out in our Constitution.  That is not the America that not only allows but encourages diverse viewpoints.

The Left’s pattern of intimidation is becoming worse as it tries to capture everyone in its net.  It may be one thing to try to silence an opponent who has chosen to take on the ugliness of political office.  But bullying children to prove a political point is simply not OK.  The Covington boys, their families and their school have been put through an undeserved hell that will affect the rest of their lives.  Quietly deleting proof of the attacks is not a sufficient response.

The Left seems to believe that lying about facts or ignoring them completely is acceptable if those facts are in any way contrary to the narrative that the Left would have everyone believe.  They have even made statements to the effect that facts don’t matter if they hold the “correct” moral view.  Yet, who are they to set themselves up as the moral authority in this land that believes in tolerance of diverse views and values? 

Hating Trump because he beat your candidate does not make your views morally superior.  Those who applaud Trump’s policies such as those that improve the economy and bring unemployment of minorities to the lowest rates ever are not morally inferior.  And, attempting to silence any and all who hold a view that differs from yours is completely un-American.

The Left’s quiet deletion without apology or remorse after wrongfully destroying lives of those holding differing views should not be tolerated.  I would look to the once objective media to call them out, but that is pointless since the media for the most part serves as partner in this behavior and then finds ways to justify it. 

The Left tells us they care about everyone, yet their actions demonstrate a level of hatred I have not seen before in my nearly three quarters of a century on this earth.   They seem driven and blinded by that one ugly passion and it is getting worse.  They seemingly will not be content until they have subjected the entire populace to their views and then have been returned to a position where they can officially exert their tyranny over us all.

I, for one, will not be silenced and I will speak out for all whom the Left attacks and tries to destroy.  I will not let their hate filled actions intimidate me and I will hope that those who have been brainwashed by the lies of the Left will awake and stand strong for the values that have always made America great, beginning with a tolerance for diversity, including diversity of thought.  We simply cannot let our great country be quietly deleted.

The Bloodthirsty Left

Two years and counting since the blind hatred of the Left began to boil.  One would think it would be cooling, but its temperature continues rising daily.

The Left wants to destroy everyone that does not bow down to them and all their views.  Now it is a group of high school boys who were attacked, accused of being attackers, and, though that has been proven untrue, continue to be the subjects of hatred and violent threats.  What did they do wrong?  Well, for starters some wore MAGA hats – an unpardonable sin in the Left’s view.  They go to a Catholic school and assert their Christian faith and values in the face of vitriolic hatred.  Those values are another unpardonable sin.  So, the Left calls for doxing of their names (publication of their names and addresses for malicious intent).  They and their families are receiving hate and death threats.  Their school is closed due to security concerns.  All this for simply peacefully wearing a hat and holding true to their faith. 

This is the Left.  This is their normal behavior.  Silence in any way possible those who do not hold their views.   Destroy anyone who is not them.  We saw this with their attempted destruction of Justice Kavanaugh and his family.  They failed – or did they? They now call for perjury charges against him – for what?  For telling the truth in the face of their lies and false charges against him.

The Left believes that their views are the only ones that should be allowed.  Regardless of their factual truth.  Notwithstanding that in this country we protect diverse views – or at least that used to be one of our ideals.  The Left would silence if not destroy all who disagree.

I understand this tactic of their leaders who, as any examination of the actual facts of their behavior reveals, seek a world in which they hold absolute power and control every thought and act of their subjects, keeping those subjects fully dependent on their every whim.  But, what I do not understand is that their followers accept, indeed follow them.

I do not understand how anyone with even half a brain or half a heart or any understanding of American values can accept the behavior of the Left.  Their continued calls for violence against anyone not holding their views.  Their many ways, both subtle and blatant, of intimidating those who are not one of them.  It is as if so many of their followers are in some sort of a drugged state as they follow blindly behind this destructive leadership of the Left.

The Left loves to throw feel good promises to their followers.  I have been listening to their candidates throwing their hats into the 2020 ring.  They all use the word “fight” in their speeches.  I will fight for this or that group.  They continue to stoke the hatred of identity politics.  I have yet to hear any of them assert that they will fight for the tolerance and respect for diverse views that is a cornerstone of our democracy.  Their promises that their government will give every group everything they want is a true “opiate of the masses.”  Yet, that opiate will destroy America.

The bloodthirsty Left cares only about itself.  Promises to this or that group are ways to gain that group’s support, but as soon as they are not useful, the Left will be happy to destroy them as well.  The Left’s thirst is for their own power and to keep that power they will destroy anything and anyone; they will keep necessary supporters not by empowering them, but by keeping them dependent and by feeding them lies.

This is a very scary time to be anything but a lock-step Leftist.  The hatred being stoked by the Left grows daily.  They want their way and only their way and they are happy to destroy any and all who stand between them and the ultimate power that they seek.  Their calls for killing (yes, killing!) of the young boys who they wrongfully accused and attacked, should shock us all, but sadly, it is the sort of thing we hear daily from the Left.  Yet, we must not let ourselves become immune to this.

The behavior of the Left is irrational and bloodthirsty hatred.  It is destructive, both to the specific individuals whom are attacked and also to the people of this country as a whole. Those who are lulled by their promises of a glorious future must see those promises for what they are – useful hooks to lure in support for the Left’s own power.  This is a frightening time for America – a time where we could lose the dignity and diversity of the individual that is a key to this and any democracy.  We must not let the hatred of the Left succeed.