The thing I love about Republicans is...
...their own love of democracy and FREEDOM of political discussion.
It is amazing to me, in spite of how often I keep having it proved to me, how Republicans have no sense of irony at all.
In particular how we are helping FREEDOM to march all over the globe, but here at home we're working as hard as we can to limit it. I mean, George himself said "there ought to be limits to freedom" when he was trying to shut down a parody website of him and his administration.
And isn't it just the most ironic thing in the world that Republicans are doing voter registration drives and then tearing up the registration cards of those who register as Democrats while at the same time reminding Democrats that we all need to honor the troops who are dying to protect freedom and democracy?
And, you know, we're supposed value and respect above nearly everything else the notion of free political speech. That's supposed to be one of the things our Nation is founded on...the belief that GOD DOES NOT APPOINT OUR KING, WE ELECT OUR PRESIDENT.
Well, let me share with you a story from my neighborhood.
(cue muppets singing "These are the people in your neighborhood...")
Monday night, a local Kerry organizer who is a friend and neighbor of mine, caught two young men stealing a Kerry sign he had put up just three hours earlier near where we both live. The perps had come over from a rather affluent neighborhood to steal Kerry signs from our less affluent neighborhood. I don't mean to imply that this is a class issue, or that I'm calling it class warfare...I'm just reporting, you decide. You know, like they say at FOX.
My friend confronted the one who was holding the stolen sign in his hands before the thief could even get into his friend's getaway Jeep. My friend pulled out his cell phone and told the boys that he was dialing 911. The little scofflaw holding the sign said, "You can't do that--you even came and spoke to us at our school!"
It is true. My friend had been a guest speaker for their high school government class a couple of weeks before and at that time had emphasized the success of the local Kerry supporters in getting yard signs out this year. He'd told the class that they were doing this so that people who might support Kerry would see that they were not alone, despite the myth that our county is overwhelmingly Republican. I guess a penny dropped in the minds of these Teen Age Republicans and they decided to act to counter this strategy.
When the Police Officer arrived on the scene, he questioned both parties separately. He said: "Your stories match, except for one thing. They're saying that you punched one of them, and if you press charges for stealing the sign, they'll press assault charges against you."
Now, you have to know my friend...he's about as likely to haul off and hit a couple of teenage thugs as I am to be invited to go duck hunting with Dick Cheney and Antonin Scalia.
My friend said: "I didn't punch either one of them, and I'm not going to be intimidated into making my decision based on that. One factor to consider would be whether this was an isolated incident or if they've done a lot of this and just got caught this one time. Do you mind searching their Jeep to see if they have more Kerry signs?"
Out came two more signs.
How about that?
Do we really want the kind of freedom Bush supporters like these are trying to promote? Where the only way to keep that freedom safe from your fellow Americans is to call the cops when you find them denying you your constitutional rights and then hope to God you don't get arrested when they lie to the police about your having attacked THEM?
Yes sir, FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH...and wearing brown shirts.
It is amazing to me, in spite of how often I keep having it proved to me, how Republicans have no sense of irony at all.
In particular how we are helping FREEDOM to march all over the globe, but here at home we're working as hard as we can to limit it. I mean, George himself said "there ought to be limits to freedom" when he was trying to shut down a parody website of him and his administration.
And isn't it just the most ironic thing in the world that Republicans are doing voter registration drives and then tearing up the registration cards of those who register as Democrats while at the same time reminding Democrats that we all need to honor the troops who are dying to protect freedom and democracy?
And, you know, we're supposed value and respect above nearly everything else the notion of free political speech. That's supposed to be one of the things our Nation is founded on...the belief that GOD DOES NOT APPOINT OUR KING, WE ELECT OUR PRESIDENT.
Well, let me share with you a story from my neighborhood.
(cue muppets singing "These are the people in your neighborhood...")
Monday night, a local Kerry organizer who is a friend and neighbor of mine, caught two young men stealing a Kerry sign he had put up just three hours earlier near where we both live. The perps had come over from a rather affluent neighborhood to steal Kerry signs from our less affluent neighborhood. I don't mean to imply that this is a class issue, or that I'm calling it class warfare...I'm just reporting, you decide. You know, like they say at FOX.
My friend confronted the one who was holding the stolen sign in his hands before the thief could even get into his friend's getaway Jeep. My friend pulled out his cell phone and told the boys that he was dialing 911. The little scofflaw holding the sign said, "You can't do that--you even came and spoke to us at our school!"
It is true. My friend had been a guest speaker for their high school government class a couple of weeks before and at that time had emphasized the success of the local Kerry supporters in getting yard signs out this year. He'd told the class that they were doing this so that people who might support Kerry would see that they were not alone, despite the myth that our county is overwhelmingly Republican. I guess a penny dropped in the minds of these Teen Age Republicans and they decided to act to counter this strategy.
When the Police Officer arrived on the scene, he questioned both parties separately. He said: "Your stories match, except for one thing. They're saying that you punched one of them, and if you press charges for stealing the sign, they'll press assault charges against you."
Now, you have to know my friend...he's about as likely to haul off and hit a couple of teenage thugs as I am to be invited to go duck hunting with Dick Cheney and Antonin Scalia.
My friend said: "I didn't punch either one of them, and I'm not going to be intimidated into making my decision based on that. One factor to consider would be whether this was an isolated incident or if they've done a lot of this and just got caught this one time. Do you mind searching their Jeep to see if they have more Kerry signs?"
Out came two more signs.
How about that?
Do we really want the kind of freedom Bush supporters like these are trying to promote? Where the only way to keep that freedom safe from your fellow Americans is to call the cops when you find them denying you your constitutional rights and then hope to God you don't get arrested when they lie to the police about your having attacked THEM?
Yes sir, FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH...and wearing brown shirts.
posted by Archie Levine at 11:33 AM
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