Tuesday, May 02, 2006

How McCain would treat internal enemies

It's a good thing that Arizona's senior US Senator John McCain wasn't around when our founding fathers were debating the US Constitution. That document might have one less amendment in it today: The first amendment. You know? The one that gives you the right to criticize your government.

How to treat internal and external enemies by Peter Fleming.

Here's the Washington DC Examiner taking McCain to task for treating the first amendment like chewing gum stuck to the bottom of his jackboots. The editorial is titled Arrogance defined by McCain
James Madison, the prime mover behind the U.S. Constitution, and his colleagues among the Founders rightly feared arrogant men like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., so they limited the central government to a few, well-defined powers. As further protection, Madison and the first Congress approved the First Amendment to the Constitution to protect forever the right of every American to freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition.
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McCain incited a blogstorm Friday with this comment, which epitomizes political arrogance: “I know that money corrupts … I would rather have a clean government than one where, quote, First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.”
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Who decides when government is “clean” enough? How “clean” must government be before politicians like McCain will let the rest of us regain our First Amendment rights?
McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for many years and, judging from his views on freedom of speech, it seems McCain learned an unfortunate lesson from his communist captors: distrust the people.

How to treat internal and external enemies

It seems that Italian anti-globalization and communist groups and Iranian agents were involved in the road-side bomb that killed three Italian soldiers in Iraq last week.

If prime minister-elect Romani Prodi has any balls, he

- outlaws those leftist groups and charges their members with treason;
- cuts relations with the Iranian regime;
- cancels the planned withdrawal of the Italian forces from Iraq.

But of course we know it won't happen. I wouldn't even be surprised if Prodi pulls off a Zapatero and actually hastens the withdrawal of the Italian forces.