Criticize, vote, but don’t threaten

August 14th, 2009

In America, at least for now, we have the protection of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which protects our freedom to speak our mind, to peacefully assemble, and to write our opinions without fear of retribution from the government. This freedom allows us to criticize our government and our president. However, should the criticism ever include threats?

If you’ve read any of my posts on Obamacare, you will know I am opposed to it. I think it will be the beginning of socializing America and it will, in its current form, remove a big portion of not only my rights, but the rights of all Americans. Besides, we already have a form of socialized health care and have had for a long time – Medicare. And you see how well the government manages that. But there have been increasing instances of violence and threats to the president at town hall meetings being held all over the country.

No, our First Amendment rights end with threats of personal injury, especially against the president. I’m no fan of Barack Obama, either, and it is NOT because of his race. My only concern is that the person in the Oval Office is qualified and good for America. I believe Obama is neither. He still hasn’t produced a birth certificate and I wonder what the big hangup is if he is definitely a natural-born citizen. (* Please read the comments. Apparently, Obama HAS produced a legal Certificate of Live Birth, much different than the ‘Certification’ I had seen earlier. So, I retract the part about the president not producing a birth certificate.) Ah, but I digress. Threatening the president, or anyone else for that matter, is a crime and is not protected speech.

We do need to fight this bill in its current form. This needs to be truly bipartisan as it was intended to be, but we all know that’s not happening. Be active in your government, tell your representatives and congressmen what you want. We have become a nation of apathetic people which allows the active minority to choose for the passive majority. And then all we do is gripe. No, people, we need to take our country back. We do this at the polls and by petitioning our legislators. It is amazing how many people think 1 vote doesn’t count, but you put that with other 1-votes and then you have momentum. We need to send a message to Washington that we are still a nation of the people, by the people and for the people.