by Ronald Gibson

Created on: April 21, 2008

Those who believe a citizen should not criticize the leaders of their nation clearly miss the point of the First Amendment. The entire reason the founders of this country felt it neccesary to protect freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to petition for the redress of grievances, (three of the five clauses in the amendment) is specifically to prevent us from being a nation in which citizens were afraid to speak out against their leaders when they are wrong. A famous quote which I was amused to hear in the advertisements for the movie Vendetta, goes like this, "The people should not fear their government, the government should fear its people." If the President does something wrong or downright stupid, it is the right and the duty of any citizen to call them on it. If a former President chooses to ignore this duty they share the guilt of the wrong doing. Of course I am not speaking merely of laughing at George W.'s Bushisms, most of which are actual Texas slang which I have my wife and in-laws translate for me since they are Texans. Nor am I referring to criticizing Clintons sexual transgressions and attempts to redefine the word "is". I could go back further but those two cover almost half my life so I will just focus on them for now. I am referring to the far more serious issues such as abuses of the Constitution and individual Liberty that will haunt us and our descendants for generations to come. Issues such as he Patriot Act, or using American troops to chase drug Lords in Somalia, and other countries. Feeling the need to bail out small countries like Kosovo and Kuwait. Invading a foreign country that couldn't possibly be a threat to us simply because they violated a resolution by an organization which our membership in is a violation of our own Constitution in and of itself. These are the issues that trouble me. Our President an his father as well s the President who came between the two are all equally responsible for these messes. Our next President will no doubt continue it regardless of which of the three most likely choices that happens to be. The one that is least obvious with this is Obama but I doubt he could win without showing the DNC he will do exactly what they tell him to do, which is basically the same thing Hillary or McCain would do in all areas that really matter. Remember that Bush campaigned in 2000 on the platform of no nation building and no foreign wars. McCain campaigns on the platform of 100 years in Iraq and finding new wars to start in Iran and elsewhere. I'd like to see a President who would bring our troops home from Iraq, Germany and anywhere else they might be outside our borders, but I suppose that will require another party that actually respects the Constitution. So much for that idea.

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