Dear DHS: Does Free Speech extend to bumper stickers?

I find it rather amusing and at the same time quite disconcerting that the same action from one person or group is considered Free Speech, but if another group does the exact same thing, it is considered “Hate speech” or “Radical Extremism”.  We realize of course, that conservatives have already been marked out for their “extremist” views, and it is to be expected that some law enforcement officers will find this an opportunity for acting upon their own worldview by detaining someone with a bumper sticker.

I wonder how often those with bumper stickers that say ” The only good ___________ (fill in the blank) is a DEAD one” get pulled over on suspicion of being a terrorist or extremist? 

Does any one realize that the more we make distinctions among people, and the more we demonize any one group, the more we are CREATING boundaries between us.  If there is a constant sense of “someone is absolutely right”, there is the stated or unstated implication that anyone who believes or thinks or acts differently is absolutely wrong.

Whatever happened to the idea of not hurting the other person’s self-esteem?  Or is that only a concept that is used in elementary school, but has no bearing on the rest of life?   Wouldn’t we all feel better about ourselves and each other if we used a little more edifying talk that affirmed others instead of trying to find ways to tear each other down?

This is from the Patriot Depot

 

URGENT REPORT: Man Detained for Displaying “Don’t Tread on Me” Bumper Sticker.

The Department of Homeland Security Strikes Again May 6, 2009: A Special Report by Archie Jones, Adjunct Writer for American Vision We just received a call from Rosemarie in Ball, Louisiana alerting us that her brother-in-law was stopped by small town Louisiana police and detained by the roadside for half an hour. A background check was conducted to determine whether he was a member of an “extremist” group. Why? Her brother-in-law (name not disclosed for privacy) had purchased and displayed a conservative “Don’t Tread on Me” bumper sticker on his car. The bumper sticker is based on the famous flag designed by American Revolution era general and statesman Christopher Gadsden.  The yellow flag featured a coiled diamondback rattlesnake ready to strike, with the slogan “Don’t Tread on Me!” underneath it.  Benjamin Franklin helped make the rattlesnake a symbol of Americans’ reluctance to quarrel but vigilance and resolve in defense of their rights.  By 1775 when Gadsden presented his flag to the commander-in-chief of the Navy, the rattlesnake   was a symbol of the colonies and of their need to unite in defense of threats to their God-given and inherited rights.  The flag and the bumper sticker symbolize American patriotism, the need to defend Americans’ rights, and resistance to tyranny’s threats to American liberty.  Those threats included—and include—illegal taxation, profanation of Americans’ rights, and violation of the fundamental principles of American law.  The notorious Department of Homeland Security memo, which was apparently based on the infamous Missouri State Police Report that described supporters of presidential candidates Bob Barr, Ron Paul, and Chuck Baldwin as “militia”-type potential extremists and potential terrorists, is not the first effort of leftist radicals to slander their political opponents as “extremists.”   Some observers have noted that similar “reports” emerged during the Clinton administration.  But “liberals” and other leftists have been calling defenders of traditional American limited, constitutional government, free enterprise, and individual liberty “extremists” since at least the 1964 election.  The political left’s attempts to establish a false equivalence between genuine left wing extremists and those who oppose the left’s assault on our culture, law, and liberty is more than propaganda to fool the ignorant and manipulate public opinion.  Combined with the power of government, it is an attempt to harass, intimidate, and silence all political opposition—and probably an attempt to demonize them as a prelude to governmental oppression and persecution. Keep in mind that the First Amendment states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Small town police misled by phony left wing “reports” are bad enough.  Federal government agencies and their armed agents under the direction of leftist radicals are exponentially worse.  They will tread on us. The time has come to let our voices be heard!