Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The First Amendment, Korans, and personal responsibility


Until now, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to weigh in on Lindsey Graham’s gee-I’d-like-to-ban-Koran-burning-but-I-probably-can’t pas de deux from this weekend.  Allahpundit has done a good job of analyzing the issue, and I thought that the point was self-evident enough that few would seriously argue for government intervention aimed at obscure preachers to silence political protest.  Conversations I have had in the meantime with others convinced me that apparently the need to defend free speech isn’t self-evident, and when a high-ranking politician stokes those passions, it requires more effort.
My column at The Week addresses Graham’s construct, which he posits as both a need to save lives and to somehow honor David Petraeus, but in order to buy either argument, one would have to believe in remote mind control and throw out the concepts of free will and personal responsibility.  That would undermine the argument for freedom entirely:http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/06/the-first-amendment-korans-and-personal-responsibility/

Federal Workers Union Sues White House Over Possible Government Shutdown

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