I don’t think anyone can question my conservative bonafides. Maybe my discomfort comes from my being philosophically aligned with true conservative values, a classical liberal. But I must say I have growing concerns with our national debate about free speech.
It is a political reality that with power comes the tendency to travel a bridge too far, to find oneself pushing the lines of behavior too far. There is always the need to check oneself. We are sliding into regions where there is a need for checking.
When thoughts like this are broadcast it is clear that some of influence need to re-read the first Amendment. “This isn’t about cancel culture this is consequence culture. This has nothing to do with Donald Trump… Jimmy Kimmel has been horrible to him, to conservatives for years. He has made fun of how I look. This is not a nice guy.” So?
When the Smothers Brothers thought they had gone too far in ridiculing Lyndon Johnson and apologized, his reply was classic. He understood satire. He embraced their right to speak freely and to use satire and wit, even cutting wit, in a free society.
Kimmel should have been canned because his show failed and was costing ABC. He could be canned because he failed to be funny, which the audience, in true free market acts, changed channels.
The real cost of freedoms is eternal vigilance to make sure we find bright lines that should not be crossed. Maybe it’s me, but since 9-11 I feel a slippery slope as we acquiesce to slow, invisible changes that diminish our freedoms to give us a false comfort from things we find uncomfortable. We must pause now and then, and reflect on the bigger , more important things. As for me I’ll embrace the Bill of Rights.
