First, The First Amendment; Then What?

Article Courtesy of The Tampa Tribune

By By DANIEL RUTH
Published March 16, 2006

This will probably come as something of a shock to the Westchase clipboard Stasi, but since Stacey Kelley had the subversive temerity to put a "Support Our Troops" sign in front of her home - Oh, the insubordination of it all!!! - locusts have not descended upon the community, boils have not broken out and property values have not plummeted to Chernobyl levels.

The sun continues to rise. Birds still chirp. The tides ebb and flow on schedule, leaving the Westchase bureaucratic vigilantes free to patrol the streets on the lookout for desperados who improperly paint their mailboxes.

If the Westchase Homeowners Association could unwad their Gordian-Knotted bloomers just a tad, here's a simple question.

Can any of you remotely imagine during World War II a scenario where an American citizen would be castigated and drawn into a Star Chamberesque proceeding facing threatened fines for merely putting up a sign expressing support for the nation's fighting men and women?

Black Spot

The answer, of course is no, or 292,131 nays for each combat death.

But times change and perhaps Stacey Kelley's predicament in wanting to exhibit a small gesture of support for her husband, David, while he serves in Iraq speaks to the larger issue that this country is in favor of "supporting the troops," as long as it's not inconvenient or, heaven forbid, violates paragraph two, subsection three, article five of some insane Torquemada Estates homeowners association black spot.

President Bush's vanity invasion of Iraq has become the Maynard G. Krebs of wars, a conflict requiring only minimal civic sacrifice.

Really now, unless you are a family member of one of the 2,300 dead Americans who have been shipped back from Iraq, name one, just one sacrifice the body politic has been asked to commit to on behalf of the U.S. military putting their lives on the line in Iraq. Just one will do quite nicely.

Oh, sorry, sticking a magnet on your car or wearing a rubber-band on your wrist doesn't quite cut it.

Praise the Lord and pass the bumper sticker.

What would you call that? Patriotism, Dr. Phil-style?

Wanton Speech

When Iraq represents the first time in American history that tax cuts were implemented during a time of war, why should anyone think Stacey Kelley is going to catch a break from the Westchase bloviating busybodies who are more concerned with landscaping than land mines?

It's certainly true if the Westchase Village of the Damned fretting biddies allow Stacey Kelley to get away with her wanton flaunting of free speech, the next thing you know somebody else in Invasion of the Body Snatchers Heights might think they, too, can get away with exercising their First Amendment rights.

Where does it end? Where?

Some other resident of Orwell Groves might to decide to put a sign up that reads "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" And right here in America, in the middle of Westchase Inquisition Palms, people might start expressing themselves. Uh-oh.

And you'd have Stacey Kelley to blame for all this free speech. Let's hope she's satisfied.

It's a pity Barney Fife died the other day. But he sure left behind plenty of whistle-tooting disciples.