The Death of the First Amendment … For Ordinary Americans

One of the most important issues driving the populist-conservative coalition supporting Donald Trump is the well-justified feeling that constitutional liberty—particularly First Amendment freedom of speech and thought—are being stripped from ordinary Americans by a self-appointed elite political correctness police force. 

And that suddenly saying something patriotic like you believe in American exceptionalism or that immigrants should assimilate and become Americans can get you fired, accused of being a racist and publicly shunned.

And this new elitist imposed speech code is applied with particular vitriol by the immigration and race-based privileges lobby.

An example of this vitriol recently surfaced when legendary football coach Lou Holtz was unceremoniously disinvited from making a speech at Cathedral High School in El Paso, Texas.

Holtz’s transgression was telling luncheon guests at a Republican National Convention event for Donald Trump, “I don’t want to speak your language, I don’t want to celebrate your holidays, I sure as hell don’t want to cheer for your soccer team.”

The campaign against Holtz was led (irony alert) by the El Paso Times newspaper, a beneficiary of the very First Amendment protections it lobbied to deprive Coach Holtz of.

An editorial by the El Paso Times applied pressure on the Cathedral alumni when it stated that the high school’s leaders “made an unfortunate decision” by picking Holtz to speak at the gathering geared to raise funds for future scholarships. “Holtz is a highly successful football coach, but his hateful words last month run counter to many of the principles that have made Cathedral such an important part of the El Paso community,” the paper stated.

This is an astonishing lowering of the standard for what constitutes “hate” to the point that loving one’s country and culture and believing in the American exceptionalism that inspired America’s leaders from John Winthrop to Ronald Reagan now constitutes “hate.”

Or take the case of Diane Amoratis, fired from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, who posted a heated Facebook post in support of the police and calling out the Soros-funded Black Lives Matter movement for encouraging rioting and civil disorder.

Ms. Amoratis was on her personal Facebook page, not speaking for the hospital, and she chose language that we would not use in an article on CHQ for part of her post, but no F-bombs, no N words and certainly nothing that approaches the race-based hate against white people spewing from BLM.

But she posted these “triggering” words sure to get anyone who says them branded as a racist, “I am white and proud to be white!! White lives matter!!!! Police officers lives matter!!!”

We wouldn’t have chosen the same words Ms. Amoratis chose, but we get her frustration and especially with the idea that being white and proud is apparently now hate.

However, it is OK to be black and promote the far-left concept of “White Crimes” that in radical construction means anyone of any race, creed, nationality, color, sex or sexual preference who embraces Western Enlightenment beliefs, such a traditional American values and capitalism, beliefs which to the radical Left are irredeemably evil and thus anyone who aligns with them is “white” in spirit and thus equally guilty of “White Crimes.”

That the far left can attack with impunity anyone for being “white,” but a white person who disparages rioters gets fired for a private Facebook post makes no sense to ordinary man-on-the-street Americans.

But it makes perfect sense if you buy Hillary Clinton’s definition of what makes America great.

The “values” that Mrs. Clinton thinks made this country great?

– Multi-culturalism

– Political Correctness

– Embrace of Open Borders and Unlimited Immigration

– Rejection of American Exceptionalism

According to Mrs. Clinton, if you reject multi-culturalism and political correctness and favor protection of American national sovereignty and American exceptionalism then you are a dangerous alt-right “extremist” who should be barred from polite society and run out of politics. 

Those looking to explain Donald Trump’s populist support and the rise of the #AltRight need look no further than firings and disinvitations like these to understand the outrage at the double of standard of what constitutes “hate” and the legitimate feeling of ordinary Americans that they are being marginalized in their own country.

George Rasley is editor of ConservativeHQ, a member of American MENSA and a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2008. He served as lead advance representative for Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and has served as a staff member, consultant or advance representative for some of America’s most recognized conservative Republican political figures, including President Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. He served in policy and communications positions on the House and Senate staff, and during the George H.W. Bush administration he served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle.