Your Thoughts Exactly

Congress, in their infinite wisdom and continuing efforts to make sure that they only spend their time working on legislation that solves none of the problems our nation faces in these difficult times has passed a bill that bans the act of protesting military funerals. Now when I originally saw this bill on CNN.com (it was on the front page for a few seconds before Barbaro’s broken leg restole the limelight,) I immediately chalked it up as another example of the Republican Congress trying to emasculate the Left by restricting civil liberties under the false pretenses of patriotism, in order to keep attention away from the fact that soldiers keep dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. I put this in the same vain as the Bush administration banning TV networks from filming returning caskets from overseas.

But upon actually reading the story, I learned that my partisanship had got the best of me, and that I was wrong for prejudging Congress. In fact, this was a bipartisan bill directed at a specific group of people who had taken to protesting military funerals. This group, members of the Westboro Baptist Church from Kansas, (surprise!) shows up to bring attention to their cause. Military deaths, according to the Church and their leader Fred Phelps, are divine retribution towards the United States for our tolerance of homosexuality. Phelps gives a much more detailed, thoughtful, through, view of his attitudes on his website: godhatesfags.com.

Now personally, if I had my way, I would have no problem giving Phelps the Vito Spatafore treatment, only I would make sure he was conscious as I rammed the broomstick up his asshole. But, in this case, as in much of life, I do not get my way. There are codes of laws which I must obey lest I decide to take justice into my own hands and in doing so, infringe on the rights of Phelps and his cronies, which I sadly admit, are no more or less than mine.

Likewise these hatemongers have the right to assemble as human beings who fall under our laws and under the protections of the Constitution. The fact that Congress, as divided and ineffectual as it has been the last five years, can try to ban their presence shows that Americans collectively reject these people as part of our society and as representations of our ideals. Everyone has a right to make noise, however, and we can’t keep people from doing so even if no one likes the message, and if they are being horribly disrespectful towards people whom have suffered more tragedy then they ever have. We can predict what will happen with this group: if given the right to protest, they will either continue doing it until they get bored (and more importantly, people get bored with them and stop giving them attention,) or, in an effort to get more attention, they will commit some illegal, likely violent act, and spend the rest of their lives in prison. Hopefully, they will be ultimately harmless. Restricting first amendment rights, on the other hand, always causes harm.

# posted by Marmaniac @ 10:55 AM