Allen West has already distinguished himself as a commie-phobic, Nazi-baiting extremist who engaged in mock executions against innocent Iraqis before leaving the Army and running for congress. He has not even completed his first term yet he has offended millions of Americans as well as his colleagues. He called Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz “the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives.” And he hired a staffer who excited her Tea Party audience by declaring that “If ballots don’t work, bullets will.”
Now West has added to his resume his participation as a member of the advisory board of the Thomas More Law Center, a notoriously aggressive group of Christian extremists with a record of blatant bigotry. The TMLC supported former judge Ray Moore who was ousted from the bench for violating a federal court order to remove a religious monument from his courthouse. They also brought suits to force schools to teach creationism along side evolution. They challenged the Hate Crimes Prevention Act which was passed after the brutal murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. They tried to force Planned Parenthood to falsely declare a link between abortion and breast cancer. They are virulently homophobic. And they have been amongst the most rabid anti-Muslim organizations in the country with wild assertions that Islam is a hoax disguised as a religion bent on destroying America.
It seems a perfect affiliation for West who shares the same principles. In a press release announcing the appointment, West said…
“What impressed me about the Law Center is that it knows the true threat to our nation posed by radical Islam and it has initiated and funded more cases challenging the Stealth Jihad being waged against our Nation than any other public interest law firm in America.”
That sentiment was captured by West recently when he said that, “When tolerance becomes a one-way street it will lead to cultural suicide.” Let that sink in for minute. What West is saying is that if we encounter intolerance on the part of others and do not thereafter become intolerant ourselves we are committing cultural suicide. So West believes that we should assume the worst characteristics of our enemies. If they are racist, we should be racist. If they torture, we should torture. The problem with that is that when we become as bad as those we are fighting, then what the hell are we fighting for?
Patrick Murphy is West’s opponent for the 18th district congressional seat in Florida. Here is how you can help him defeat West.
“The problem with that is that when we become as bad as those we are fighting, then what the hell are we fighting for?”
Sounds like, based on so many of your articles, you are fighting to silence all speech (and those who push it) you find offensive. I’m sure if the people of his district don’t like him, they will throw him out, kind of like the last guy like him -Alan Grayson. You really are a fraud when it comes to your supposed “reverence” for the first ammendment – it only extends to those who push your line of thinking. Hate speech is protected every bit as much as nice, friendly speech.
Where did you see Mark calling for censorship — or are you just pulling it out of your a*$?
Steve, as usual you fail completely to respond substantively to anything I said – even the quote you cited.
And as Lori noted, there is nothing in my article that remotely suggests censorship. You seem to think that a right-wing doofus like West can say anything he wants, but no one is allowed to respond. That’s censorship, and it’s you who is promoting it. Free speech is as much my right as it is West’s, and if you or West can’t handle being exposed as idiots that’s your problem.
By the way, West took the cowardly route and chose to run for reelection in a different district because he knew he would not win in his current district. What’s more, he doesn’t live in either his current district or the one he’s running in now. He lives in the district represented by Wasserman-Schulz, but he’s afraid to run against her.
We’ll see in November if West returns to congress. Alan Grayson too, since he’s running to regain his old seat.
Further, at some level you are required to be held accountable for your speech. For example, there’s nothing in the First Amendment that states I can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded theater (to use the Holmes analogy from Schenk V US); I would be well within my First Amendment rights to do so – if there were in fact a fire. However as Holmes wrote in his decision that FALSELY shouting the same with intent to incite panic can and should abridge the First Amendment. This was later restricted to abridgment in the case of “immenent lawless action”.
However the right to free speech doesn’t universally apply when the intent of your free speech is to incite probable and immediate violence against others or disrupt the general welfare of the nation.
I disagree. It doesn’t sound like that at all.
Somebody should make a quiz: Breivik or West? It would be ridiculously difficult, though – the statements quoted above could easily have been from either one…