[quote=afx114][quote=Allan from Fallbrook]culminating with the thoroughly vile Pelosi accusing average citizens of being “un-American” for engaging in the most basic right (1st Amendment) of all: Assembling and speaking out about an issue that gravely concerns them.[/quote]
Allan, would you agree that taking away someone’s right to free speech un-American?
Were the people that Pelosi was referring to exercising their right to free speech or were they preventing others from exercising theirs?
I’m not a fan of Pelosi, and I don’t necessarily agree with what she said, but there is an important distinction here. Furthermore, I fully support “Obama = Hitler” signs and questions about death panels. But there’s quite a difference between “speaking out about an issue” and disrupting civil discourse for the sake of disruption. What about the poor old lady who wanted to ask how she will be able to afford her meds but couldn’t ask because she was shouted down by some loonies? What about her 1st Amendment right?
But overall I agree with you that the Dems are being a bunch of tools at the moment.[/quote]
Afx: I completely agree with you. On another post, I pointed out that there was definitely an element that was showing up and being intentionally disruptive at various Town Hall meetings and that is wrong.
Further, I would also say that I vehemently disagree with “Obama = Hitler” signs and for the same reason that I vehemently disagreed with the “Bush = Hitler” signs: Whether or not you support the President, he is the President and you respect the office. I think this sort of demagoguery, regardless from the Left or Right, is wrong and is tearing at the fabric of civil society.
My dad had a great expression: “I may disagree with everything you say, but I will die for your right to say it”.
One of the reasons I find Pelosi so reprehensible as both a person and an elected official is the utter hypocrisy, combined with her complete and total disconnection from the very people that elected her. During the BushCo years, she was the first to encourage people to dissent and protest and was totally silent when people were viciously attacking the President and his policies. Now, suddenly, it’s become “un-American” to speak out and those that don’t agree with the current Administration and it’s policies are now hooligans and tools of the Right.
Yes, I’m sure there are instances where some of these protesters are paid to be there and be disruptive, but we’re also seeing an ever growing legion of average Americans that are justifiably worried and not just about healthcare, but about a government sprawling out of control and spending trillions of dollars on what appears to be an ever larger series of boondoggles.
I would bet money that you, as a liberal, are looking at the same situation that I, as a conservative, am and are just as horrified and appalled. And that gives me hope, both for our country and it’s future, because it means that Americans are still engaged and can still be enraged. I don’t foresee a violent revolution, like some here do, but I do see a revolution brewing.
