The Rush to Illiberalism

Liberals are the first to scream when they think their First Amendment rights are being violated. Witness the disputes over menorahs and creches on courthouse steps, Lawsuits over invocations at public school graduations, and the like.

But what about when they disagree with what's being spoken? Some liberal groups will play it down the middle. The ACLU, for example, will take up the causes of atheists who don't want their children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because of the "one nation under God" phrase added in 1955. But it will also go to bat for neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan's right to parade in public.

Unfortunately, most liberals are not liberal at all when it comes to free speech. Witness the recent controversy over conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and his quest to be a part-owner of a National Football League team. Mr. Limbaugh, who was forced off of the syndicate bidding for ownership of the St. Louis Rams, was subject to a muzzling campaign led by the Revs. Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson and Al "Tawana" Sharpton. At issue were a number of comments that Mr. Limbaugh allegedly made on-air that were deemed by these two nonpareils to have been racist.

Only one problem: No one can seem to find these comments that were allegedly racist. There was one comment regarding black quarterbacks, specifically the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb, where Mr. Limbaugh stated his opinion that some black quarterbacks like Mr. McNabb, are overrated because they are overhyped by black sportswriters. An opinion.
In point of fact, there are thousands of Monday morning quarterbacks in and around Philadelphia who probably share that opinion (I'm not one of them) every Monday following an Eagles loss.

And Exhibit A to support Mr. Limbaugh's opinion is Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press, an African American sportswriter who took up the "get Limbaugh" cudgel on Fox News this week.
This is just the latest in a long line of incidents where the Left refuses to tolerate any dissent from orthodoxy. Mr. Jackson can derogate Jews, and Mr. Sharpton can impugn the integrity of police officers unfairly, and they get a pass. But Mr. Limbaugh--caustic, witty, controversial, but worst of all, conservative-shut him up.

This is just the latest in a disturbing list of recent examples of the Left's intolerance:

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  Throughout the summer Americans packed town hall meetings across the country lambasting their congressmen over their profligate spending and the impending $1 billion healthcare transition bill. Liberals from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Pres. Obama himself were dismissive of their concerns, claimed that the dissent was the work of outside agitators, and even questioned their patriotism.
• Fox News finds itself in a war of words with the White House over its unrelenting criticism of the president's policies--from the Stimulus giveaway to nationalization of industry to healthcare. But the agents of the criticism are Fox' commentators-not its news operation. Nevertheless, the president in his full court press to shore up support for his flagging healthcare plan, refused to appear on Fox News Sunday-the only network so treated. Like a petulant child who kept saying no when told by the president to take its medicine, Fox News was punished by the silent treatment. Pres. Obama has decided to limit the information that viewers can receive through Fox News. How is that different that Richard Nixon and his enemies list, or the Iranian mullahs banning Twitter and Facebook? And the White House won't let it go. Communications Director Anita Dunn has compared the White House's relations to Fox to a war. Forget the irony of a communications director advising her client to be non-communicative.
• The latest incident occurred last week when a speaker had his microphone turned off for daring to question global warming cheerleader Al Gore over the inconvenient truth that polar bears may not be threatened by warming polar ice caps after all. See the film below.

You can't make this stuff up. But you have to connect the dots. When you do, you see a pervasive pattern of intolerance, orthodoxy, and enmity towards anyone who disagrees with the Left. Mr. Limbaugh was not the first victim, and sadly, he won't be the last.

Look up liberalism in the dictionary. You'll find that it is Latin meaning suitable for a free man. Liberalism is a belief in an individual's God-given right to be free. And this includes the freedom to speak your mind: to sports fans, to a pompous ex-vice president hypocritically on the cusp of making a personal fortune by promoting some save-the-planet theory, and yes, a sitting rock star president who can't compute that there are people in the world who don't just adore him.

Liberals have, plain and simple, become illiberal. This is not a crowd that tolerates dissent. And that's dangerous.

Just thought you might like to know.