Hi Vern,
I got your message from Tea Party Nation, but before I could reply, I was banned by Judson Phillips:
This isn't the first time I've been banned from a forum. I
was banned from Glenn Beck's forum, even though I never even posted anything! I find many conservatives are very
fearful of unapproved ideas and afraid of debate.
So since I can't respond to your message on Tea Party Nation, I thought I'd leave an audio message
for you:
Click here to listen
I'd like to make a few comments on the nature of Free Speech, and the problem of U.S. war and
foreign policy.
Free Speech
I would say Judson Phillips does not understand "free speech."
I understand that "Tea Party Nation" is a private forum. But "free speech" means
more than just requiring something from the government. "Free speech" must be a way of life. It must be a
faith in the power of truth. It must be an assurance that by reasoning with our opponent,
truth will win. As Justice Brandeis put
it,
Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not
exalt order at the cost of liberty. To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and
fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be
deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before
there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and
fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech,
not enforced silence.
Louis Brandeis, concurring,
Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
I've always considered myself a conservative, but I've been increasingly disappointed with the substitution of
mindless patriotism for an intelligent defense of conservative values.
I think my presence on Tea Party Nation was respectful and intelligent. I received several kudos from other
readers. I'm not disruptive or belligerent. I think my suspension speaks more poorly of Judson Phillips than of me.
Foreign Policy
I would also say Judson Phillips doesn't understand America's foreign policy, and the need to view it critically,
evaluating it in terms of America's founding ideals, and not accepting it uncritically in a spirit of blind
patriotism.
Washington D.C. has lost the original foreign policy vision of America as a "City
Upon a Hill."
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial
relations to have with them as little political connection as possible."
— Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s emphasis]
I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to
shape its administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with
none.
— Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)
The United States federal government is now an empire, not a City upon a Hill.
Americans, even conservatives, have forgotten the warnings of America's Founders about the danger of "standing
armies." Conservatives are turning a blind eye to massive corporate welfare in
the "Military-Industrial Complex."
But probably most important, too many conservatives are ineffectual guards of the rights to life, liberty and
property with which all men (not just American citizens) have been endowed by their Creator. The Military-Industrial
Complex is responsible for the loss of millions of innocent non-combatant civilian lives, loss of liberty and
enslavement of millions, and for trillions of dollars of destroyed or confiscated property. This deviation from
American ideals is huge. I don't understand why conservatives ignore this dangerous manifestation of "big
government."
I'm not going to try to determine whether this shift from America as a "City upon a Hill" to the U.S.
as an atheistic globalist empire is a "conspiracy" or whether it's just
incompetence, but it's wrong. It must be exposed and resisted.
Memorial Day is a good time to guard against blind patriotism, and resolve that no more American soldiers will
die in vain.
www.Would Jesus Celebrate
Memorial Day.com
Thanks for listening. Hope to hear back from you.