FREEDOM'S FATE – AT 7:49 A.M. ET:  Ronald Reagan said it best:  "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Make no mistake about it – freedom had a bad week last week.  The Israelis have a term for it:  salami tactics.  Something is taken away one small slice at a time.

I have only contempt for that "pastor" in Florida who wanted to burn the Koran.  I'm glad the obnoxious gent decided against it.  But, as vulgar as the act is, it is Constitutionally protected, and the pastor was cautioned that if he committed this act, some people overseas might be "offended," and react according to the way their culture handles offense.  That is, essentially, blackmail.

Similarly, the guy behind the Ground Zero mosque warned that if the mosque issue wasn't "handled" correctly, there could be a similar reaction overseas.  That is more blackmail.

In civil-liberties stories they call it "the heckler's veto."  Liberty is lost when a heckler can simply shout down a speaker and prevent that speaker from exercising his First Amendment rights.  As a society we're being subjected to a huge heckler's veto.  We must not "offend" anyone because they may do something unpleasant.   We saw the veto in play last week.  Another slice of the salami.

One of the founding principles of this country is, "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it."  Another great principle is that the antidote to offensive free speech is more free speech.  "Sunshine," Justice Brandeis wrote, "is the best disinfectant."

President Obama represents a faction in the United States that has no problem with speech codes on college campuses or vaguely worded "hate-crime" laws that can be employed very selectively against groups that are unpopular at the moment.  Salami slices.

So, while we're pleased that a Koran won't be burned, let us contemplate the circumstances through which the vile act was prevented.  Next we will surely be told that any criticism of certain societies is too dangerous for us, too much of a risk.

Yes, freedom had a bad week last week.  And it was a week in which the Muslim Students Association at the University of California, Irvine, under suspension for a year after shouting down a visiting speaker and making his speech impossible, was told that the suspension was being cut to four months.  The signal was sent that the heckler's veto wasn't all that serious.  Another slice of the salami.

Eternal vigilance, my friends.

September 13, 2010