Posted on 04/08/2011 7:55:36 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
When Florida pastor Terry Jones decided to send a message to Muslims by burning a Koran last week, it incited outrage and violence throughout the Arab world. American leaders rightly responded by condemning the senseless and dangerous act. Yet in the end, and despite the pastors obvious and irresponsible recklessness, Jones used his free speech and political leaders used theirs. Such is the nature of free expression in a free society.
But one politicians condemnation of Jones contained a suggested remedy far more dangerous to American freedom than burning the Koran. Said Sen. Lindsey Graham on CBS Face the Nation:
Yeah, I wish we could find some way to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but were in a war. During World War II you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy.
Certainly the Founding Fathers considered free speech more than just a mere great idea but one of the bedrock principles of our republic, even enshrining it in the first amendment to our Constitution. That Graham would be willing to capitulate to radical Islamists by curtailing this precious freedom is particularly astounding when you consider that the Senator consistently and adamantly opposes curtailing the one policy that unquestionably inspires the enemy more than any other. In fact, when it comes to looking out for Americas proper defense and actual securityLindsey Graham is arguably the most ass-backward politician alive today.
While, almost amusingly, Sen. Graham doesnt deny that destroying a Koran incites Muslim hatred, he does deny that the destruction to persons and property necessary in any warvia the United States militarydoes any such thing. For all the talk of radical Islamists simply hating us for our freedoms, a narrative Graham has repeated countless times, few who tout this line can explain why, historically, the US had virtually no fear of Islamic terrorists until we began heavily intervening in the Arab world. Was Islam perhaps more enlightened or modern in the 1940s, 50s and 60s than it is today? Or has our foreign policy in the Middle East changed drastically since that time?
No less an authority than the former head of the CIAs Bin Laden unit Michael Scheuer notes: On no other foreign policy issue since the Cold Wars end has the truth been so easy to establish on the basis of hard facts but so hard for Americans to see that Muslim hatred is motivated by U.S. interventionism more than any other factor.
But politicians like Graham not only refuse to see how our current foreign policy actually endangers us more than it protects ushe and his pro-war ilk constantly promote more of it. When Iraqi government officials began saying they wanted the US out of their country as soon as possible, 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared that America might remain in that country for 100 years if necessary, with an approving Graham by his side. When Afghanistans government began asking for the US to withdraw as soon as possible, Graham said America might need to remain in that country in perpetuity. Now that President Obama has started a third Middle Eastern war in Libya, most Republicans either oppose or are highly skeptical of this military action. Not Graham. Even reports that the Libyan rebels might be working with Al-Qaeda dont seem to faze the Senator one bit in his support for Obamas new war.
Still, for Graham, support for a hyper-interventionist foreign policyeven if it means indirectly helping Al-Qaeda per the Libyan rebelsis non-negotiable. What is negotiable are Americans historic and constitutional freedoms. James Madison once wrote that No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual war and its no coincidence that Graham has little problem with diminishing freedom in the name of perpetual war.
But Graham has always had an authoritarian streak. Remember that in addition to his recent suggestion that we might need to limit free speech, Graham has also been one of the most vocal champions of anti-constitutional measures like REAL ID, in which the federal government could keep better tabs on American citizens. Of course Graham was also a strong proponent of the horribly misnamed Patriot Act, which gives the federal government the power to treat Americans as something less than citizens. Destroying Korans is unquestionably stupid. So is destroying the Constitution.
Two things the Founders were adamantly againstcensoring political speech and involving America in foreign entangling alliancesGraham stands without hesitation for both; blind to truth, history and common sense. If Pastor Jones singular act of burning a Koran has now put American citizens and troops in jeopardy, Grahams everyday acts on Capitol Hill do exactly the same thing; only on a more regular basis and in much more spectacular fashion.
That Lindsey Graham still argues for more foreign entanglements every chance he getsin the name of freedom, no lessis the very definition of irony. And the definition of insanity should now include anyone who would dare give up American freedom in the name of protecting it.
Southern Avenger?More like Southern Douche bag to me.
I was living in SC when light-loafered Lindsey first ran for congress. His entire schtick was, “I’m just a country lawyer citizen politician. I’m going to go for a couple terms and come home. I’m going to term limit myself.”
Lying sack of dog squeeze, in the words of Neil Boortz.
Great smackdown of the pompous POS, Graham...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeyrp-V3Jvc
Ann Barnhardt for President!
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