
Today, nearly two hundred and fifty years later we see exactly what he was talking about. And if it weren't for the Constitution and, more specifically, the Bill of Rights, we would probably already have lost many of our freedoms, particularly the freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. For without the first two amendments, all would be easier to eliminate. And even with the written commitment of the Bill of Rights, when people weaken and lose their will to learn and stay current, evil can always entertain the ignorant with ideas that sound good but lead to tyranny. That, my friends, is sadly what we face today. And while we publicly notice the drive to try and undo our second amendment right to bear arms, the first amendment guaranteeing our right to freedom of speech is under constant assault and we must be vigilant. With respect to freedom of speech, to what do I refer? Why political correctness, of course, the weapon used by people with strong ideologies that are afraid to face the truth and deal with it in honest discourse.
A most recent example has surfaced with regard to Sinclair Broadcasting, a telecommunications giant which operates nearly two hundred TV stations nationwide and also has contracts for many radio programs as well. It is a family owned but publicly traded company and like most such enterprises in America, it has editorial policies and frequently puts them on air, a basic freedom of speech right. When it recently required paid anchors to read a statement affirming it's corporate policy with regard to fake news, stating it would only issue real news in its news segments, you would have thought the end of the earth had arrived. And, of course, the blowback came from organizations that are clearly leftward in thinking and policy, such as CNN with Brian Stelter, a man who spouts the leftist news script daily with nothing to back it up, Media Matters, a supposed free speech policy group which is anything back and even Senator Dick Durbin, the outspoken Senator from Illinois who has demanded to see records and more from Sinclair.
Senator Durbin is a strange one to complain about anything coming from right of center as he is probably the most (and that says a lot) ideological Senator for the left in Washington. He has severely criticized the work of our military forces, blaming them for causing strife overseas when they are just trying to do their job, survive and and return home. He has blamed all mass murder situations on guns, always making excuses for the perpetrators while his own turf, Chicago, a city with harsh gun control policies, is a modern day Gunsmoke on the streets with primarily blacks killing other blacks with guns. And as one of the loudest cheerleaders for abortion on demand, including partial birth abortion and the works of Planned Parenthood, he finds himself banned from Holy Communion by his own Diocese's Bishop for his support of that travesty.
But look, I get it at that the left doesn't like Conservatism and they are free to not like it. But just like CNN, MSNBC, the main stream media and even PBS, which taxpayers pay for, they routinely spout the same identifcal talking points day in and day out and they see that is okay. And it's why so many call them "talking heads" today and they are to ignorant to understand.
But let an organization with different values and history to back them up, an organization like Sinclair Broadcasting to take a stand for its freedom of speech, and they want it silenced. It's just another example of trying to use the David Hogg approach as applied against the second amendment similarly applied to the first. Ideology versus sound logic never turns out well.
Wake up, America, and check out all varying viewpoints and then decide for yourself. If you agree with the left that you aren't smart enough to understand the issues of the day and want to accept what a talking head spouts, well, be my guest. But if you want to study the issue and determine on your own, independently, what you believe, then you have to broaden your horizons. But don't tell Americans what to believe. Instead, break the chains of political correctness. Sometimes truth is painful, yet it needs to be said, even in a college classroom where someone might be offended. Speaking is not violence. It is a right and Americans who know and believe that will not silently go into the darkness of dogma. Wake up and face the real light, America, its more fragile than you might think. Keep the light of truth alive. That's what good and honest discourse helps us to do.